One cannot imagine St. Francis of Assisi talking about rights. 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 hungrymomentsbook 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 perfectdesireworld Meditation on the chance which led to the meeting of my mother and father is even more salutary than meditation on death. Simone Weil meditationmotherfather Nothing can have as its destination anything other than its origin. The contrary idea, the idea of progress, is poison. Simone Weil progressdestinyideas 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 soulsufferingfacts 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 strugglewarpeace 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 visionmindthinking 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 silencemenhands Only an indirect method is effective. We do nothing if we have not first drawn back. Simone Weil indirectmethodfirsts [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 spiritualityactionsteps 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 sufferingeviltogether If there were no affliction in this world we might think we were in paradise. Simone Weil afflictionworldthinking The lure of quantity is the most dangerous of all. Simone Weil lurequantitydangerous The demonstrable correlation of opposites is an image of the transcendental correlation of contradictories. Simone Weil contradictorytranscendentalopposites We only possess what we renounce; what we do not renounce escapes from us. Simone Weil renounce Renunciation is submission to time. Simone Weil renunciationsubmission 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 painhatredlying Creation is an act of love and it is perpetual. Simone Weil perpetualacts-of-lovecreation 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 preparationimportantwar Attentiveness is the heart of prayer. Simone Weil attentivenessprayerheart
