Quotes by Simone Weil - AI Generated Quotes

Simone Weil

We can only know one thing about God - that he is what we are not. Our wretchedness alone is an image of this. The more we contemplate it, the more we contemplate him.

-Simone Weil

alone

To want friendship is a great fault. Friendship ought to be a gratuitous joy, like the joys afforded by art or life.

-Simone Weil

art

Most works of art, like most wines, ought to be consumed in the district of their fabrication.

-Simone Weil

art

Beauty always promises, but never gives anything.

-Simone Weil

beauty

Humanism was not wrong in thinking that truth, beauty, liberty, and equality are of infinite value, but in thinking that man can get them for himself without grace.

-Simone Weil

beauty

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.

-Simone Weil

best

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.

-Simone Weil

communication

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.

-Simone Weil

dreams

Humanism was not wrong in thinking that truth, beauty, liberty, and equality are of infinite value, but in thinking that man can get them for himself without grace.

-Simone Weil

equality

Equality is the public recognition, effectively expressed in institutions and manners, of the principle that an equal degree of attention is due to the needs of all human beings.

-Simone Weil

equality

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.

-Simone Weil

faith

An atheist may be simply one whose faith and love are concentrated on the impersonal aspects of God.

-Simone Weil

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.

-Simone Weil

fear

To want friendship is a great fault. Friendship ought to be a gratuitous joy, like the joys afforded by art or life.

-Simone Weil

friendship

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.

-Simone Weil

future

The future is made of the same stuff as the present.

-Simone Weil

future

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.

-Simone Weil

god

A science which does not bring us nearer to God is worthless.

-Simone Weil

god

Charity. To love human beings in so far as they are nothing. That is to love them as God does.

-Simone Weil

god

Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions reality can be attained only by someone who is detached.

-Simone Weil

great

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.

-Simone Weil

history

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.

-Simone Weil

hope

Imagination and fiction make up more than three quarters of our real life.

-Simone Weil

imagination

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.

-Simone Weil

imagination

The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell.

-Simone Weil

intelligence

The role of the intelligence - that part of us which affirms and denies and formulates opinions is merely to submit.

-Simone Weil

intelligence

Whatever debases the intelligence degrades the entire human being.

-Simone Weil

intelligence

Evil being the root of mystery, pain is the root of knowledge.

-Simone Weil

knowledge

Imagination and fiction make up more than three quarters of our real life.

-Simone Weil

life

I can, therefore I am.

-Simone Weil

motivational

Humility is attentive patience.

-Simone Weil

patience

To get power over is to defile. To possess is to defile.

-Simone Weil

power

Evil, when we are in its power, is not felt as evil, but as a necessity, even a duty.

-Simone Weil

power

In the intellectual order, the virtue of humility is nothing more nor less than the power of attention.

-Simone Weil

power

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.

Simone Weil

We can only know one thing about God - that he is what we are not. Our wretchedness alone is an image of this. The more we contemplate it, the more we contemplate him.

To want friendship is a great fault. Friendship ought to be a gratuitous joy, like the joys afforded by art or life.

Most works of art, like most wines, ought to be consumed in the district of their fabrication.

Beauty always promises, but never gives anything.

Humanism was not wrong in thinking that truth, beauty, liberty, and equality are of infinite value, but in thinking that man can get them for himself without grace.

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.

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.

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.

Humanism was not wrong in thinking that truth, beauty, liberty, and equality are of infinite value, but in thinking that man can get them for himself without grace.

Equality is the public recognition, effectively expressed in institutions and manners, of the principle that an equal degree of attention is due to the needs of all human beings.

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.

An atheist may be simply one whose faith and love are concentrated on the impersonal aspects of God.

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.

To want friendship is a great fault. Friendship ought to be a gratuitous joy, like the joys afforded by art or life.

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.

The future is made of the same stuff as the present.

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.

A science which does not bring us nearer to God is worthless.

Charity. To love human beings in so far as they are nothing. That is to love them as God does.

Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions reality can be attained only by someone who is detached.

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.

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.

Imagination and fiction make up more than three quarters of our real life.

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.

The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell.

The role of the intelligence - that part of us which affirms and denies and formulates opinions is merely to submit.

Whatever debases the intelligence degrades the entire human being.

Evil being the root of mystery, pain is the root of knowledge.

Imagination and fiction make up more than three quarters of our real life.

I can, therefore I am.

Humility is attentive patience.

To get power over is to defile. To possess is to defile.

Evil, when we are in its power, is not felt as evil, but as a necessity, even a duty.

In the intellectual order, the virtue of humility is nothing more nor less than the power of attention.

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.

A science which does not bring us nearer to God is worthless.

Other Authors to Explore

Johnnie Cochran

Lucy Maud Montgomery

Bill Kristol

Ne-Yo

James Stockdale

Bill Veeck

Mike Singletary

Winona Ryder