“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
“To want friendship is a great fault. Friendship ought to be a gratuitous joy, like the joys afforded by art or life.”
ArtAll Quotes by Simone Weil
“Most works of art, like most wines, ought to be consumed in the district of their fabrication.”
Art“What a country calls its vital... interests are not things that help its people live, but things that help it make war.”
War“The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell.”
Intelligence“In the intellectual order, the virtue of humility is nothing more nor less than the power of attention.”
Power“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“The most important part of teaching is to teach what it is to know.”
Teacher“Charity. To love human beings in so far as they are nothing. That is to love them as God does.”
God“The future is made of the same stuff as the present.”
Future“A self-respecting nation is ready for anything, including war, except for a renunciation of its option to make war.”
War“The role of the intelligence - that part of us which affirms and denies and formulates opinions is merely to submit.”
Intelligence“There is one, and only one, thing in modern society more hideous than crime namely, repressive justice.”
Society“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“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“The contemporary form of true greatness lies in a civilization founded on the spirituality of work.”
Work“Force is as pitiless to the man who possesses it, or thinks he does, as it is to its victims the second it crushes, the first it intoxicates. The truth is, nobody really possesses it.”
Truth“Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions reality can be attained only by someone who is detached.”
Great“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“To write the lives of the great in separating them from their works necessarily ends by above all stressing their pettiness, because it is in their work that they have put the best of themselves.”
Best“A science which does not bring us nearer to God is worthless.”
God