“The reality of this world is necessity.”

— Simone Weil, Draft for a Statement of Human Obligation, 1943

About Simone Weil

1909 – 1943

French philosopher and political activist.

“The development of the faculty of attention forms the real object and almost the sole interest of studies.”

“I also am other than what I imagine myself to be. To know this is forgiveness.”

“Art is the symbol of the two noblest human efforts: to construct and to refrain from destruction.”

“Let whatever appears to be the best be to you an inviolable law.”

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

“All that glisters is not gold.”

“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”

“And one man in his time plays many parts.”

“Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.”