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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 Simone Weil : An Anthology (1986)

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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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You have to start with the truth. The truth is the only way that we can get anywhere. Because any decision-making that is based upon lies or ignorance can't lead to a good conclusion.

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False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.

Socrates

I believe in evil. It is the property of all those who are certain of truth. Despair and fanaticism are only differing manifestations of evil.

Edward Teller

Wars produce many stories of fiction, some of which are told until they are believed to be true.

Ulysses S. Grant Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant (1885)

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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.