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Those who keep the masses of men in subjection by exercising force and cruelty deprive them at once of two vital foods, liberty and obedience; for it is no longer within the power of such masses to accord their inner consent to the authority to which they are subjected. Those who encourage a state of things in which the hope of gain is the principal motive take away from men their obedience, for consent which is its essence is not something which can be sold.

— Simone Weil Simone Weil : An Anthology (1986)

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Philosophy

More quotes by Simone Weil

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)

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The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.

H. P. Lovecraft The Call of Cthulhu (1926)

There is no governor anywhere; you are all absolutely free. There is no restraint that cannot be escaped.

Robert Anton Wilson

Every morning
I shall concern myself anew about the boundary
Between the love-deed-Yes and the power-deed-No
And pressing forward honor reality.

Martin Buber Power and Love (1926)

In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true is true or becomes true, within certain limits to be found experientially and experimentally. These limits are further beliefs to be transcended.

John C. Lilly The Human Biocomputer (1974)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Simone Weil (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.