Simone Weil quotes - page 6

The aim is to replace economic oligarchies by the State, which has a will-to-power of its own and is quite as little concerned with the public good; and a will-to-power, moreover, which is not economic but military and therefore much more dangerous to any good folk who have a taste for staying alive. And on the bourgeois side what on earth is the sense of objecting to State control in economic affairs if one accepts private monopolies which have all the economic and technical disadvantages of State monopolies and possibly some others as well? (Simone Weil)
The might which kills outright is an elementary and coarse form of might. How much more varied in its devices; how much more astonishing in its effects is that other which does not kill; or which delays killing. View quote
Simone Weil
I have sometimes told myself that if only there were a notice on church doors forbidding entry to anyone with an income above a certain figure, and a low one, I would be converted at once. View quote
Simone Weil
The key to a Christian conception of studies is the realization that prayer consists of attention. It is the orientation of all the attention of which the soul is capable toward God. The quality of the attention counts for much in the quality of the prayer. Warmth of heart cannot make up for it. View quote
Simone Weil
To set up as a standard of public morality a notion which can neither be defined nor conceived is to open the door to every kind of tyranny. View quote
Simone Weil
To get power over is to defile. To possess is to defile. View quote
Simone Weil
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. View quote
Simone Weil
I suffer more from the humiliations inflicted by my country than from those inflicted on her. View quote
Simone Weil
In the Church, considered as a social organism, the mysteries inevitably degenerate into beliefs. View quote
Simone Weil
I am not a Catholic; but I consider the Christian idea, which has its roots in Greek thought and in the course of the centuries has nourished all of our European civilization, as something that one cannot renounce without becoming degraded. View quote
Simone Weil
Who were the fools who spread the story that brute force cannot kill ideas? Nothing is easier. And once they are dead they are no more than corpses. (Simone Weil)
The role of the intelligence - that part of us which affirms and denies and formulates opinions is merely to submit. View quote
Simone Weil
Nothing is less instructive than a machine. View quote
Simone Weil
When once a certain class of people has been placed by the temporal and spiritual authorities outside the ranks of those whose life has value, then nothing comes more naturally to men than murder. View quote
Simone Weil
With no matter what human being, taken individually, I always find reasons for concluding that sorrow and misfortune do not suit him; either because he seems too mediocre for anything so great, or, on the contrary, too precious to be destroyed. View quote
Simone Weil
We are like horses who hurt themselves as soon as they pull on their bits - and we bow our heads. We even lose consciousness of the situation, we just submit. Any re-awakening of thought is then painful. View quote
Simone Weil
A self-respecting nation is ready for anything, including war, except for a renunciation of its option to make war. View quote
Simone Weil
It is not the cause for which men took up arms that makes a victory more just or less, it is the order that is established when arms have been laid down. View quote
Simone Weil
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. View quote
Simone Weil
Evil being the root of mystery, pain is the root of knowledge. View quote
Simone Weil
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)
Those who are unhappy have no need for anything in this world but people capable of giving them their attention. View quote
Simone Weil
When a contradiction is impossible to resolve except by a lie, then we know that it is really a door. View quote
Simone Weil
We must prefer real hell to an imaginary paradise. View quote
Simone Weil
It is an eternal obligation toward the human being not to let him suffer from hunger when one has a chance of coming to his assistance. View quote
Simone Weil