“The only way into truth is through one's own annihilation through dwelling a long time in a state of extreme and total humiliation.”
Truth
“In the intellectual order, the virtue of humility is nothing more nor less than the power of attention.”
PowerAll Quotes by Simone Weil
“Most works of art, like most wines, ought to be consumed in the district of their fabrication.”
Art“The future is made of the same stuff as the present.”
Future“The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell.”
Intelligence“Whatever debases the intelligence degrades the entire human being.”
Intelligence“Two prisoners whose cells adjoin communicate with each other by knocking on the wall. The wall is the thing which separates them but is also their means of communication. It is the same with us and God. Every separation is a link.”
Communication“What a country calls its vital... interests are not things that help its people live, but things that help it make war.”
War“The contemporary form of true greatness lies in a civilization founded on the spirituality of work.”
Work“A test of what is real is that it is hard and rough. Joys are found in it, not pleasure. What is pleasant belongs to dreams.”
Dreams“Imagination is always the fabric of social life and the dynamic of history. The influence of real needs and compulsions, of real interests and materials, is indirect because the crowd is never conscious of it.”
History“If Germany, thanks to Hitler and his successors, were to enslave the European nations and destroy most of the treasures of their past, future historians would certainly pronounce that she had civilized Europe.”
Future“Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions reality can be attained only by someone who is detached.”
Great“The most important part of teaching is to teach what it is to know.”
Teacher“To want friendship is a great fault. Friendship ought to be a gratuitous joy, like the joys afforded by art or life.”
Art“More than in any other performing arts the lack of respect for acting seems to spring from the fact that every layman considers himself a valid critic.”
Respect“Charity. To love human beings in so far as they are nothing. That is to love them as God does.”
God“The only hope of socialism resides in those who have already brought about in themselves, as far as is possible in the society of today, that union between manual and intellectual labor which characterizes the society we are aiming at.”
Hope“Evil being the root of mystery, pain is the root of knowledge.”
Knowledge“The mysteries of faith are degraded if they are made into an object of affirmation and negation, when in reality they should be an object of contemplation.”
Faith“As soon as men know that they can kill without fear of punishment or blame, they kill or at least they encourage killers with approving smiles.”
Fear