The real stumbling-block of totalitarian regimes is not the spiritual need of men for freedom of thought; it is men's inability to stand the physical and nervous strain of a permanent state of excitement, except during a few years of their youth. 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 pain suffering hands Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity. Simone Weil generosity caring kindness We must not wish for the disappearance of our troubles but for the grace to transform them. Simone Weil adversity religious christian 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 oppression crush sides 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 humility acceptance spiritual Prayer consists simply in giving to God all the careful attention of which the soul is capable. Simone Weil soul prayer giving There are only two things that pierce the human heart. One is beauty. The other is affliction. Simone Weil heart beauty two The love of our neighbor in all its fullness simply means being able to say, "What are you going through? Simone Weil inspirational love friendship Love: To feel with one's whole self the existence of another being. Simone Weil existence self love-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 betrayal military brother Art is the symbol of the two noblest human efforts: to construct and to refrain from destruction. Simone Weil effort two art It is a fault to wish to be understood before we have made ourselves clear to ourselves. Simone Weil faults made wish 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 longing heart world Every sin is an attempt to fly from emptiness. Simone Weil emptiness sin A hurtful act is the transference to others of the degradation which we bear in ourselves. Simone Weil mean-people optimistic kindness If you want to know what a man is really like, take notice of how he acts when he loses money. Simone Weil money want men Human existence is so fragile a thing and exposed to such dangers that I cannot love without trembling. Simone Weil trembling existence danger Every being cries out in silence to be read differently. Do not be indifferent to these cries. Simone Weil indifferent cry silence 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 real giving lying Fire destroys that which feeds it. Simone Weil fire challenges
