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Simone Weil on Intelligence

1909–1943 France

← All quotes by Simone Weil

6 quotes

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)

The eulogies of my intelligence are positively intended to evade the question "Is what she says true?"

Simone Weil : An Anthology (1986)

Real genius is nothing else but the supernatural virtue of humility in the domain of thought.

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)

The intelligence is defeated as soon as the expression of one's thoughts is preceded, explicitly or implicitly, by the little word 'we'. And when the light of the intelligence grows dim, it is not very long before the love of good becomes lost.

The Need for Roots: Prelude to a Declaration of Duties Towards Mankind (1949)

Just as a vagrant accused of stealing a carrot from a field stands before a comfortably seated judge who keeps up an elegant flow of queries, comments and witticisms while the accused is unable to stammer a word, so truth stands before an intelligence which is concerned with the elegant manipulation of opinions.

Simone Weil : An Anthology (1986)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Simone Weil (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.