Simone Weil
Simone Weil
Simone Weil; 3 February 1909 – 24 August 1943) was a French philosopher, Christian mystic, and political activist...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth3 February 1909
CityParis, France
CountryFrance
race idols people
The Hebrews took for their idol, not something made of metal or wood, but a race, a nation, something just as earthly. Their religion is essentially inseparable from such idolatry, because of the notion of the 'chosen people'.
grace wish trouble
We must not wish for the disappearance of our troubles but for the grace to transform them.
faith atheist atheism
Religion in so far as it is a source of consolation is a hindrance to true faith ; and in this sense atheism is a purification. I have to be an atheist with that part of myself which is not made for God. Among those in whom the supernatural part of themselves has not been awakened, the atheists are right and the believers wrong.
heart two affliction
There are only two things that pierce the human heart. One is beauty. The other is affliction.
doubt trying tyranny
Whenever one tries to suppress doubt , there is tyranny .
kindness generosity empathy
Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.
felt power
Evil, when we are in its power, is not felt as evil, but as a necessity, even a duty.
culture instrument teachers
Culture is an instrument wielded by teachers to manufacture teachers, who, in their turn, will manufacture still more teachers.
art wine fabrication
Most works of art, like most wines, ought to be consumed in the district of their fabrication.
art two effort
Art is the symbol of the two noblest human efforts: to construct and to refrain from destruction.
men two deny
Of two men who have no experience of God, he who denies him is perhaps nearer to him than the other.
lying two rights
The right to kill: supposing the life of X ... were linked with our own so that the two deaths had to be simultaneous, should we still wish him to die? If with our whole body and soul we desire life and if nevertheless without lying, we can reply 'yes'> then we have the right to kill.
war errors study
The great error of nearly all studies of war... has been to consider war as an episode in foreign policies, when it is an act of interior politics...
art thinking personality
It is precisely those artists and writers who are most inclined to think of their art as the manifestation of their personality who are in fact the most in bondage to public taste.