"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."

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More quotes from: Simone Weil

• "A doctrine serves no purpose in itself, but it is indispensable to have one if ..."
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• "A mind enclosed in language is in prison. "
• "A self-respecting nation is ready for anything, including war, except for a renunciation of its ..."
• "A test of what is real is that it is hard and rough. Joys are ..."
• "All sins are attempts to fill voids. "
• "An atheist may be simply one whose faith and love are concentrated on the impersonal ..."
• "Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be attained only by someone who ..."
• "Beauty always promises, but never gives anything. "
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• "Culture is an instrument wielded by teachers to manufacture teachers, who, in their turn, will ..."
• "Difficult as it is really to listen to someone in affliction, it is just as ..."
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• "Every perfect life is a parable invented by God. "
• "Every time that I think of the crucifixion of Christ, I commit the sin of ..."
• "Evil being the root of mystery, pain is the root of knowledge. "
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• "Human beings are so made that the ones who do the crushing feel nothing; it ..."
• "Humility is attentive patience. "
• "I am not a Catholic; but I consider the Christian idea, which has its roots ..."
• "I can, therefore I am. "
• "I suffer more from the humiliations inflicted by my country than from those inflicted on ..."
• "I would suggest that barbarism be considered as a permanent and universal human characteristic which ..."
• "If Germany, thanks to and his successors, were to enslave the European nations and destroy ..."
• "If Germany, thanks to Hitler and his successors, were to enslave the European nations and ..."
• "If we are suffering illness, poverty, or misfortune, we think we shall be satisfied on ..."

• "Imagination and fiction make up more than three quarters of our real life. "
• "Imagination is always the fabric of social life and the dynamic of history. The influence ..."
• "In struggling against anguish one never produces serenity; the struggle against anguish only produces new ..."
• "In Switzerland they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what ..."
• "In the Church, considered as a social organism, the mysteries inevitably degenerate into beliefs. "
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• "It is only the impossible that is possible for God. He has given over the ..."
• "Life does not need to mutilate itself in order to be pure. "
• "More than in any other performing arts the lack of respect for acting seems to ..."
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• "Nothing is less instructive than a machine. "
• "One cannot imagine St. Francis of Assisi talking about rights. "
• "Oppression that is clearly inexorable and invincible does not give rise to revolt but to ..."
• "Petroleum is a more likely cause of international conflict than wheat. "
• "Purity is the power to contemplate defilement. "
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• "The destruction of the past is perhaps the greatest of all crimes. "
• "The future is made of the same stuff as the present. "
• "The highest ecstasy is the attention at its fullest. "
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• "The most important part of teaching is to teach what it is to know. "
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• "The payment of debts is necessary for social order. The non-payment is quite equally necessary ..."
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• "The real stumbling-block of totalitarian rTgimes is not the spiritual need of men for freedom ..."
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• "To be a hero or a heroine, one must give an order to oneself. "
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• "To get power over is to defile. To possess is to defile. "
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• "To want friendship is a great fault. Friendship ought to be a gratuitous joy, like ..."
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• "Whatever debases the intelligence degrades the entire human being. "
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