We have to try to cure our faults by attention and not by will. Simone Weil More Quotes by Simone Weil More Quotes From Simone Weil It is grace that forms the void inside us and it is grace that can fill the void. Simone Weil voidformgrace Everything beautiful has a mark of eternity. Simone Weil marketernitybeautiful Difficult as it is really to listen to someone in affliction, it is just as difficult for him to know that compassion is listening to him. Simone Weil nursingcompassionlistening Even if our efforts of attention seem for years to be producing no result, one day a light that is in exact proportion to them will flood the soul. Simone Weil powerfullightyears Justice consists in seeing that no harm is done to men. Whenever a man cries inwardly: 'Why am I being hurt?' harm is being done to him. He is often mistaken when he tries to define the harm, and why and by whom it is being inflicted on him. But the cry itself is infallible. Simone Weil compassionhurtmen The afflicted are not listened to. They are like someone whose tongue has been cut out and who occasionally forgets the fact. When they move their lips no ear perceives any sound. And they themselves soon sink into impotence in the use of language, because of the certainty of not being heard. Simone Weil cuttingsufferingmoving Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer. Simone Weil prayerattention When a man's life is destroyed or damaged by some wound or privation of soul or body, which is due to other men's actions or negligence, it is not only his sensibility that suffers but also his aspiration toward the good. Therefore there has been sacrilege towards that which is sacred in him. Simone Weil soulsufferingmen I suffer more from the humiliations inflicted by my country than from those inflicted on her. Simone Weil humiliationsufferingcountry Patriotism is idolatry of the self. Simone Weil self-responsibilityresponsibilityself Everybody knows that really intimate conversation is only possible between two or three. As soon as there are six or seven, collective language begins to dominate. That is why it is a complete misinterpretation to apply to the Church the words 'Wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.' Christ did not say two hundred, or fifty, or ten. He said two or three. Simone Weil intimate-conversationnamestwo In struggling against anguish one never produces serenity; the struggle against anguish only produces new forms of anguish. Simone Weil serenitygriefstruggle Religion as a source of consolation is an obstacle to true faith. Simone Weil obstaclesconsolationsource It is not through the way in which someone speaks about God that I can see whether that person has passed through the crucible of Divine Love, but through the way the person speaks to me about things here on earth. Simone Weil crucibleearthway God's love for us is not the reason for which we should love him. God's love for us is the reason for us to love ourselves. Simone Weil gods-loveshouldreason Love is not consolation, it is light. Simone Weil lightlovelife Just as a person who is always asserting that he is too good-natured is the very one from whom to expect, on some occasion, the coldest and most unconcerned cruelty, so when any group sees itself as the bearer of civilization this very belief will betray it into behaving barbarously at the first opportunity. Simone Weil opportunitycivilizationfirsts The Hebrews took for their idol, not something made of metal or wood, but a race, a nation, something just as earthly. Their religion is essentially inseparable from such idolatry, because of the notion of the 'chosen people'. Simone Weil raceidolspeople The difference between more or less intelligent men is like the difference between criminals condemned to life imprisonment in smaller or larger cells. The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like a condemned man who is proud of his large cell. Simone Weil differencesintelligentmen Humility is attentive patience. Simone Weil humilityhumblepatience
