Intellectual adherence is never owed to anything whatsoever, for it is never in any degree a voluntary thing. Attention alone is voluntary. It alone forms the subject of an obligation. Simone Weil More Quotes by Simone Weil More Quotes From Simone Weil Pain and suffering are a kind of currency passed from hand to hand until they reach someone who receives them but does not pass them on. Simone Weil painsufferinghands Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity. Simone Weil generositycaringkindness We must not wish for the disappearance of our troubles but for the grace to transform them. Simone Weil adversityreligiouschristian Human beings are so made that the ones who do the crushing feel nothing; it is the person crushed who feels what is happening. Unless one has placed oneself on the side of the oppressed, to feel with them, one cannot understand. Simone Weil oppressioncrushsides Just as the power of the sun is the only force in the natural universe that causes a plant to grow against gravity, so the grace of God is the only force in the spiritual universe that causes a person to grow against the gravity of their own ego. Simone Weil humilityacceptancespiritual Prayer consists simply in giving to God all the careful attention of which the soul is capable. Simone Weil soulprayergiving There are only two things that pierce the human heart. One is beauty. The other is affliction. Simone Weil heartbeautytwo The love of our neighbor in all its fullness simply means being able to say, "What are you going through? Simone Weil inspirationallovefriendship Love: To feel with one's whole self the existence of another being. Simone Weil existenceselflove-you Whether the mask is labeled fascism, democracy, or dictatorship of the proletariat, our great adversary remains the apparatus—the bureaucracy, the police, the military. Not the one facing us across the frontier of the battle lines, which is not so much our enemy as our brothers' enemy, but the one that calls itself our protector and makes us its slaves. No matter what the circumstances, the worst betrayal will always be to subordinate ourselves to this apparatus and to trample underfoot, in its service, all human values in ourselves and in others. Simone Weil betrayalmilitarybrother Art is the symbol of the two noblest human efforts: to construct and to refrain from destruction. Simone Weil efforttwoart It is a fault to wish to be understood before we have made ourselves clear to ourselves. Simone Weil faultsmadewish At the centre of the human heart is the longing for an absolute good, a longing which is always there and is never appeased by any object in this world. Simone Weil longingheartworld Every sin is an attempt to fly from emptiness. Simone Weil emptinesssin A hurtful act is the transference to others of the degradation which we bear in ourselves. Simone Weil mean-peopleoptimistickindness If you want to know what a man is really like, take notice of how he acts when he loses money. Simone Weil moneywantmen Human existence is so fragile a thing and exposed to such dangers that I cannot love without trembling. Simone Weil tremblingexistencedanger Every being cries out in silence to be read differently. Do not be indifferent to these cries. Simone Weil indifferentcrysilence There is something else which has the power to awaken us to the truth. It is the works of writers of genius. They give us, in the guise of fiction, something equivalent to the actual density of the real, that density which life offers us every day but which we are unable to grasp because we are amusing ourselves with lies. Simone Weil realgivinglying Fire destroys that which feeds it. Simone Weil firechallenges
