Simone Weil
French · 1909–1943
French philosopher, mystic, and political activist whose writings on attention, affliction, and grace bridged philosophy and spirituality.
Wikipedia ↗“L'attention est la forme la plus rare et la plus pure de la générosité.”
French
“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.”
“Tous les mouvements naturels de l'âme sont régis par des lois analogues à celles de la pesanteur matérielle. La grâce seule fait exception.”
French
“All the natural movements of the soul are controlled by laws analogous to those of physical gravity. Grace is the only exception.”
“Le mal imaginaire est romantique, varié ; le mal réel est morne, monotone, désertique, ennuyeux. Le bien imaginaire est ennuyeux ; le bien réel est toujours nouveau, merveilleux, enivrant.”
French
“Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvellous, intoxicating.”
“L'attention absolument sans mélange est prière.”
French
“Absolute unmixed attention is prayer.”
“La destruction du passé est peut-être le plus grand crime.”
French
“The destruction of the past is perhaps the greatest of all crimes.”
“L'enracinement est peut-être le besoin le plus important et le plus méconnu de l'âme humaine.”
French
“To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.”
“L'amour du prochain dans sa plénitude consiste simplement à être capable de lui demander : « Quel est ton tourment ? »”
French
“The love of our neighbor in all its fullness simply means being able to say to him: "What are you going through?"”