Source: Gravity and Grace
Quotes from book
Gravity and Grace
Simone Weil
Original title
La pesanteur et la grâce
(French, 1947)
Gravity and Grace is collection of aphorisms written by Simone Weil and published posthumously in 1947.
“Love of God is pure when joy and suffering inspire an equal degree of gratitude.”
Source: Gravity and Grace
“If we love God while thinking that he does not exist, he will manifest his existence.”
Source: Simone Weil : An Anthology (1986), Detachment (1947), p. 260
Source: Gravity and Grace
p. 120 http://books.google.it/books?id=lpuZIgerNroC&pg=PA120 (1997 edition)
Gravity and Grace (1947)
“Action is the pointer which shows the balance. We must not touch the pointer but the weight.”
L’action est l’aiguille indicatrice de la balance. Il ne faut pas toucher à l’aiguille, mais aux poids.
La pesanteur et la grâce (1948), p. 57
Source: Gravity and Grace (1947), p. 97
“Alexander is to a peasant proprietor what Don Juan is to a happily married husband.”
Source: Gravity and Grace (1947), p. 78, (1972 edition)
Source: Gravity and Grace (1947), p. 142 (1972 edition)
Source: Gravity and Grace (1947), p. 129 (1972 edition)
“It is not religion but revolution which is the opium of the people.”
Source: Gravity and Grace (1947), p. 159 (1972 edition)
Source: Gravity and Grace (1947), p. 140 (1972 edition)
Croire qu’on s’élève parce qu’en gardant les mêmes bas penchants (exemple : désir de l’emporter sur autrui) on leur a donné des objets élevés. On s’élèverait au contraire en attachant à des objets bas des penchants élevés.
La pesanteur et la grâce (1948), p. 61
Source: Gravity and Grace (1947), p. 48 (1972 edition)
“The simultaneous existence of opposite virtues in the soul — like pincers to catch hold of God.”
Source: Gravity and Grace (1947), p. 92 (1972 edition)
“That which is and that which cannot be are both outside the realm of becoming.”
Source: Gravity and Grace (1947), p. 154 (1972 edition)
Context: We must wish either for that which actually exists or for that which cannot in any way exist — or, still better, for both. That which is and that which cannot be are both outside the realm of becoming.
… It is by this twist that slavery debases the soul: this devotion is in fact based on a lie, since the reasons for it cannot bear investigation. … Moreover, the master is deceived too by the fallacy of devotion.
Source: Gravity and Grace (1947), p. 142 (1972 edition)
