To be a hero or a heroine, one must give an order to oneself. Simone Weil More Quotes by Simone Weil More Quotes From Simone Weil Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating. Simone Weil realevilhappiness The needs of a human being are sacred. Their satisfaction cannot be subordinated either to reasons of state, or to any consideration of money, nationality, race, or color, or to the moral or other value attributed to the human being in question, or to any consideration whatsoever. Simone Weil colorraceneeds Time's violence rends the soul, by the rent eternity enters. Simone Weil violenceeternitysoul The great error of nearly all studies of war, an error into which all socialists have fallen, has been to consider war as an episode in foreign politics when it is especially an act of internal politics and the most atrocious act of all . . . Since the directing apparatus has no other way of fighting the enemy than by sending its own soldiers, under compulsion, to their death-the war of one state against another state resolves itself into a war of the state and the military apparatus against its own people. Simone Weil fightingmilitarywar Evil when we are in its power is not felt as evil but as a necessity, or even a duty. Simone Weil tyrantspoliticsevil Equality is the public recognition, effectively expressed in institutions and manners, of the principle that an equal degree of attention is due to the needs of all human beings. Simone Weil equalitydegreesneeds The vulnerability of precious things is beautiful because vulnerability is a mark of existence. The destruction of Troy. The fall of the petals from fruit trees in blossom. To know that what is most precious is not rooted in existence - that is beautiful. Simone Weil treebeautifulfall The sea is not less beautiful in our eyes because we know that sometimes ships are wrecked by it. Simone Weil beautifulbeautyinspirational All sins are attempts to fill voids. Simone Weil voidmemorableinspirational Whenever one tries to suppress doubt , there is tyranny . Simone Weil tyrannydoubttrying To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul. Simone Weil importantsoulneeds The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell. Simone Weil intelligentpridemen There is one, and only one, thing in modern society more hideous than crime namely, repressive justice. Simone Weil modernwisdomjustice Official history is a matter of believing murderers on their own word. Simone Weil matterbelievehistory Sin is not a distance, it is a turning of our gaze in the wrong direction. Simone Weil wrong-directiondistancesin What a country calls its vital economic interests are not the things which enable its citizens to live, but the things which enable it to make war. Petrol is more likely than wheat to be a cause of international conflict. Simone Weil warpeacecountry God is rich in mercy. I know this wealth of his with the certainty of experience, I have touched it. Simone Weil richwealthmercy It is much easier to imagine ourselves in the place of God the Creator than in the place of Christ crucified. Simone Weil easierimaginechrist The beauty of the world is Christ's tender smile for us coming through matter. Simone Weil environmentalmatterworld A man thinks he is dying for his country," said Anatole France, "but he is dying for a few industrialists." But even that is saying too much. What one dies for is not even so substantial and tangible as an industrialist. Simone Weil mencountrythinking
