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Most works of art, like most wines, ought to be consumed in the district of their fabrication.

Simone Weil
Art

More Quotes By Simone Weil

A mind enclosed in language is in prison.
Simone Weil
Language Mind Prison
More than in any other performing arts the lack of respect for acting seems to spring from the fact that every layman considers himself a valid critic.
Simone Weil
Acting Fact Respect Spring
The contemporary form of true greatness lies in a civilization founded on the spirituality of work.
Simone Weil
Civilization Greatness Lies Spirituality Work
I can, therefore I am.
Simone Weil
If we are suffering illness, poverty, or misfortune, we think we shall be satisfied on the day it ceases. But there too, we know it is false; so soon as one has got used to not suffering one wants something else.
Simone Weil
Day Illness Misfortune Poverty Suffering
Whatever debases the intelligence degrades the entire human being.
Simone Weil
Being Intelligence
A self-respecting nation is ready for anything, including war, except for a renunciation of its option to make war.
Simone Weil
Nation Renunciation Self War
A doctrine serves no purpose in itself, but it is indispensable to have one if only to avoid being deceived by false doctrines.
Simone Weil
Being Doctrine Purpose
I suffer more from the humiliations inflicted by my country than from those inflicted on her.
Simone Weil
Country
The only way into truth is through one’s own annihilation; through dwelling a long time in a state of extreme and total humiliation.
Simone Weil
Extreme State Time Truth
Every perfect life is a parable invented by God.
Simone Weil
God Life
In the Church, considered as a social organism, the mysteries inevitably degenerate into beliefs.
Simone Weil
Beliefs Church
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
Affirmation Contemplation Faith Reality
Life does not need to mutilate itself in order to be pure.
Simone Weil
Life Order
The destruction of the past is perhaps the greatest of all crimes.
Simone Weil
Destruction Past
Evil being the root of mystery, pain is the root of knowledge.
Simone Weil
Being Evil Knowledge Mystery Pain
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
History Imagination Influence Life Needs
All sins are attempts to fill voids.
Simone Weil
It is an eternal obligation toward the human being not to let him suffer from hunger when one has a chance of coming to his assistance.
Simone Weil
Being Chance Hunger Obligation
The danger is not lest the soul should doubt whether there is any bread, but lest, by a lie, it should persuade itself that it is not hungry.
Simone Weil
Danger Doubt Lie Soul
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
Blame Fear Men Punishment Smiles
Force is as pitiless to the man who possesses it, or thinks he does, as it is to its victims; the second it crushes, the first it intoxicates. The truth is, nobody really possesses it.
Simone Weil
First Force Man Truth Victims
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
Hope Labor Socialism Society Today
When once a certain class of people has been placed by the temporal and spiritual authorities outside the ranks of those whose life has value, then nothing comes more naturally to men than murder.
Simone Weil
Class Life Men Murder Nothing People Spiritual Value
Charity. To love human beings in so far as they are nothing. That is to love them as God does.
Simone Weil
Charity God Love Nothing
Beauty always promises, but never gives anything.
Simone Weil
Beauty Promises
The role of the intelligence – that part of us which affirms and denies and formulates opinions is merely to submit.
Simone Weil
Intelligence Opinions
It is not the cause for which men took up arms that makes a victory more just or less, it is the order that is established when arms have been laid down.
Simone Weil
Cause Men Order Victory
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
Beauty Equality Grace Humanism Infinite Liberty Thinking Truth Value Wrong
When a contradiction is impossible to resolve except by a lie, then we know that it is really a door.
Simone Weil
Contradiction Lie
Human beings are so made that the ones who do the crushing feel nothing; it is the person crushed who feels what is happening. Unless one has placed oneself on the side of the oppressed, to feel with them, one cannot understand.
Simone Weil
Nothing
We must prefer real hell to an imaginary paradise.
Simone Weil
Hell Paradise
It is only the impossible that is possible for God. He has given over the possible to the mechanics of matter and the autonomy of his creatures.
Simone Weil
God
Evil, when we are in its power, is not felt as evil, but as a necessity, even a duty.
Simone Weil
Duty Evil Necessity Power
Nothing is less instructive than a machine.
Simone Weil
Machine Nothing
An atheist may be simply one whose faith and love are concentrated on the impersonal aspects of God.
Simone Weil
Faith God Love May
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
Europe Future Germany Historians Nations Past
To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.
Simone Weil
Soul
A science which does not bring us nearer to God is worthless.
Simone Weil
God Science
Every time that I think of the crucifixion of Christ, I commit the sin of envy.
Simone Weil
Christ Envy Sin Time
One cannot imagine St. Francis of Assisi talking about rights.
Simone Weil
Rights Talking
In struggling against anguish one never produces serenity; the struggle against anguish only produces new forms of anguish.
Simone Weil
Serenity Struggle
Real genius is nothing else but the supernatural virtue of humility in the domain of thought.
Simone Weil
Genius Humility Nothing Supernatural Thought Virtue
I would suggest that barbarism be considered as a permanent and universal human characteristic which becomes more or less pronounced according to the play of circumstances.
Simone Weil
Circumstances Play
Imagination and fiction make up more than three quarters of our real life.
Simone Weil
Fiction Imagination Life
Who were the fools who spread the story that brute force cannot kill ideas? Nothing is easier. And once they are dead they are no more than corpses.
Simone Weil
Fools Force Ideas Nothing
Difficult as it is really to listen to someone in affliction, it is just as difficult for him to know that compassion is listening to him.
Simone Weil
Affliction Compassion Listening
To be a hero or a heroine, one must give an order to oneself.
Simone Weil
Order
The highest ecstasy is the attention at its fullest.
Simone Weil
Attention Ecstasy
To want friendship is a great fault. Friendship ought to be a gratuitous joy, like the joys afforded by art or life.
Simone Weil
Art Fault Friendship Joy Life Want