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 More Quotes by Simone Weil More Quotes From Simone Weil I only read what I am hungry for at the moment when I have an appetite for it, and then I do not read, I eat. Simone Weil hungry moments book All the goods of this world...are finite and limited and radically incapable of satisfying the desire that perpetually burns within us for an infinite and perfect good. Simone Weil perfect desire world Meditation on the chance which led to the meeting of my mother and father is even more salutary than meditation on death. Simone Weil meditation mother father Nothing can have as its destination anything other than its origin. The contrary idea, the idea of progress, is poison. Simone Weil progress destiny ideas Moreover, nothing is so rare as to see misfortune fairly portrayed; the tendency is either to treat the unfortunate person as though catastrophe were his natural vocation, or to ignore the effects of misfortune on the soul, to assume, that is, that the soul can suffer and remain unmarked by it, can fail, in fact, to be recast in misfortune's image. Simone Weil soul suffering facts Modern war appears as a struggle led by all the State apparatuses and their general staffs against all men old enough to bear arms. Simone Weil struggle war peace Contemplating an object fixedly with the mind, asking myself, 'What is it?' without thinking of any other object or relating it to anything else for hours on end. Simone Weil vision mind thinking The man who has known pure joy, if only for a moment ... is the only man for whom affliction is something devastating. At the same time he is the only man who has not deserved the punishment. But, after all, for him it is no punishment; it is God holding his hand and pressing rather hard. For, if he remains constant, what he will discover buried deep under the sound of his own lamentations is the pearl of the silence of God. Simone Weil silence men hands Only an indirect method is effective. We do nothing if we have not first drawn back. Simone Weil indirect method firsts [We are not] to take one step, even in the direction of what is good, beyond that to which we are irresistibly impelled by God, and this applies to action, word, and thought. Simone Weil spirituality action steps Evil is neither suffering nor sin; it is both at the same time, it is something common to them both. For they are linked together; sin makes us suffer and suffering makes us evil, and this indissoluble complex of suffering and sin is the evil in which we are submerged against our will, and to our horror. Simone Weil suffering evil together If there were no affliction in this world we might think we were in paradise. Simone Weil affliction world thinking The lure of quantity is the most dangerous of all. Simone Weil lure quantity dangerous The demonstrable correlation of opposites is an image of the transcendental correlation of contradictories. Simone Weil contradictory transcendental opposites We only possess what we renounce; what we do not renounce escapes from us. Simone Weil renounce Renunciation is submission to time. Simone Weil renunciation submission There is no detachment where there is no pain. And there is no pain endured without hatred or lying unless detachment is present too. Simone Weil pain hatred lying Creation is an act of love and it is perpetual. Simone Weil perpetual acts-of-love creation War, which perpetuates itself under the form of preparation for war, has once and for all given the State an important role in production. Simone Weil preparation important war Attentiveness is the heart of prayer. Simone Weil attentiveness prayer heart
