Evil being the root of mystery, pain is the root of knowledge. – Simone Weil
The role of the intelligence – that part of us which affirms and denies and formulates opinions is merely to submit. – Simone Weil
Whatever debases the intelligence degrades the entire human being. – Simone Weil
The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell. – Simone Weil
The only hope of socialism resides in those who have already brought about in themselves, as far as is possible in the society of today, that union between manual and intellectual labor which characterizes the society we are aiming at. – Simone Weil
Imagination is always the fabric of social life and the dynamic of history. The influence of real needs and compulsions, of real interests and materials, is indirect because the crowd is never conscious of it. – Simone Weil
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions reality can be attained only by someone who is detached. – Simone Weil
Charity. To love human beings in so far as they are nothing. That is to love them as God does. – Simone Weil
A science which does not bring us nearer to God is worthless. – Simone Weil
The future is made of the same stuff as the present. – Simone Weil
If Germany, thanks to Hitler and his successors, were to enslave the European nations and destroy most of the treasures of their past, future historians would certainly pronounce that she had civilized Europe. – Simone Weil
As soon as men know that they can kill without fear of punishment or blame, they kill or at least they encourage killers with approving smiles. – Simone Weil
The mysteries of faith are degraded if they are made into an object of affirmation and negation, when in reality they should be an object of contemplation. – Simone Weil
An atheist may be simply one whose faith and love are concentrated on the impersonal aspects of God. – Simone Weil
Equality is the public recognition, effectively expressed in institutions and manners, of the principle that an equal degree of attention is due to the needs of all human beings. – Simone Weil
A test of what is real is that it is hard and rough. Joys are found in it, not pleasure. What is pleasant belongs to dreams. – Simone Weil
Two prisoners whose cells adjoin communicate with each other by knocking on the wall. The wall is the thing which separates them but is also their means of communication. It is the same with us and God. Every separation is a link. – Simone Weil
To write the lives of the great in separating them from their works necessarily ends by above all stressing their pettiness, because it is in their work that they have put the best of themselves. – Simone Weil
Humanism was not wrong in thinking that truth, beauty, liberty, and equality are of infinite value, but in thinking that man can get them for himself without grace. – Simone Weil
