Religion as a source of consolation is an obstacle to true faith. Simone Weil More Quotes by Simone Weil More Quotes From Simone Weil To be innocent is to bear the weight of the entire universe. It is to throw away the counterweight. Simone Weil innocent weight bears It is human misery and not pleasure which contains the secret of the divine wisdom. Simone Weil misery divine-wisdom secret In order to obey God, one must receive his commands. How did it happen that I received them in adolescence, while I was professing atheism? To believe that the desire for good is always fulfilled - that is faith, and whoever has it is not an atheist. Simone Weil atheist order believe Someone who does not see a pane of glass is not aware of not seeing it. Simone Weil seeing glasses doe Rome is the Great Beast of atheism and materialism, adoring nothing but itself. Israel is the Great Beast of religion. Neither one nor the other is likable. The Great Beast is always repulsive Simone Weil rome atheism israel It is not enough that France should be regarded as a country which enjoys the remains of a freedom acquired long ago. If she is still to count in the world--and if she does not intend to, she may as well perish--she must be seen by her own citizens and by all men as an ever-flowing source of liberty. There must not be a single genuine lover of freedom in the whole world who can have a valid reason for hating France. Simone Weil hate men country The authentic and pure values, truth, beauty, and goodness, in the activity of a human being are the result of one and the same act, a certain application of the full attention to the object. Teaching should have no aim but to prepare, by training the attention, for the possibility of such an act. All the other advantages of instruction are without interest. Simone Weil training teaching should-have It is not for man to seek, or even to believe in, God. Simone Weil real believe past A well ordered society would be one where the State only had a negative action, comparable to that of a rudder: a light pressure at the right moment to counteract the first suggestion of any loss of equilibrium. Simone Weil suggestions light loss All those who possess in its pure state the love of their neighbour and the acceptance of the order of the world, inclucing affliction-all those, even should they live and die to all appearances atheists, are surely saved. Simone Weil atheist acceptance order Those who keep the masses of men in subjection by exercising force and cruelty deprive them at once of two vital foods, liberty and obedience; for it is no longer within the power of such masses to accord their inner consent to the authority to which they are subjected. Those who encourage a state of things in which the hope of gain is the principle motive take away from men their obedience, for consent which is its essence is not something which can be sold. Simone Weil essence exercise men One can never really give a proof of the reality of anything; reality is not something open to proof, it is something established. It is established just because proof is not enough. It is this characteristic of language, at once indispensable and inadequate, which shows the reality of the external world. Most people hardly ever realize this, because it is rare that the very same man thinks and puts his thought into action. Simone Weil men reality thinking Life does not need to mutilate itself in order to be pure. Simone Weil doe life order 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 killers punishment encouragement one is never got out of the cave, one comes out of it. Simone Weil caves If we are suffering illness, poverty, or misfortune, we think we shall be satisfied on the day it ceases. But there too, we know it is false; so soon as one has got used to not suffering one wants something else. Simone Weil world-suffering want-something thinking Capitalism has brought about the emancipation of collective humanity with respect to nature. But this collective humanity has itself taken on with respect to the individual the oppressive function formerly exercised by nature. Simone Weil individual taken humanity We must wish either for that which actually exists or for that which cannot in any way exist or, still better, for both. That which is and that which cannot be are both outside the realm of becoming. Simone Weil becoming wish way There is nothing that comes closer to true humility than the intelligence. It is impossible to feel pride in one's intelligence at the moment when one really and truly exercises it. Simone Weil pride humility exercise Evil is license, and that is why it is monotonous: everything has to be drawn from ourselves. One is condemned to false infinity. That is hell itself. Simone Weil hell infinity evil
