169 quotes
Art is the symbol of the two noblest human efforts: to construct and to refrain from destruction.
The most important part of education — to teach the meaning of to know (in the scientific sense).
Waiting on God (1950)
Stars and blossoming fruit-trees: utter permanence and extreme fragility give an equal sense of eternity.
Simone Weil : An Anthology (1986)
An imaginary perfection is automatically at the same level as I who imagine it — neither higher nor lower.
Simone Weil : An Anthology (1986)
Men of the most brilliant intelligence can be born, live and die in error and falsehood.
Simone Weil : An Anthology (1986)
Only he who has measured the dominion of force, and knows how not to respect it, is capable of love and justice.
Simone Weil : An Anthology (1986)
"Science affirms that ..." Science is voiceless; it is the scientists who talk.
On Science, Necessity, and the Love of God (1968)
I also am other than what I imagine myself to be. To know this is forgiveness.
Simone Weil : An Anthology (1986)
My purpose here is to denounce an idea which seems to be dangerous and false.
On Science, Necessity, and the Love of God (1968)
Wrongly or rightly you think that I have a right to the name of Christian.
Among those in whom the supernatural part of themselves has not been awakened, the atheists are right and the believers wrong.
A Pharisee is someone who is virtuous out of obedience to the Great Beast.
Simone Weil : An Anthology (1986)
If a captive mind is unaware of being in prison, it is living in error.
Simone Weil : An Anthology (1986)
Concern for the symbol has completely disappeared from our science.
The Need for Roots (1949)
Every atheist is an idolater — unless he is worshipping the true God in his impersonal aspect. The majority of the pious are idolaters.
Last Notebook (1942)
Truth is sought not because it is truth but because it is good.
Simone Weil : An Anthology (1986)
We should have with each person the relationship of one conception of the universe to another conception of the universe, and not to a part of the universe.
Gravity and Grace (1947)
Every time that a man has, with a pure heart, called upon Osiris, Dionysus, Buddha, the Tao, etc., the Son of God has answered him by sending the Holy Spirit.
Letter to a Priest (1951)
It is not only in literature that fiction generates immorality. It does it also in life itself. For the substance of our life is almost exclusively composed of fiction.
On Science, Necessity, and the Love of God (1968)
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 : An Anthology (1986)