Tag: Simone Weil

Today’s One-Liner (#11)

Method of investigation— as soon as one has arrived at any position, try to find in what sense the contrary is true. –Simone Weil, Waiting for God

Choosing Guiding Means

A few years ago I read Amos Oz’s trenchant book, How to Cure a Fanatic.  His context was the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Therein, Oz noted that “the essence of fanaticism lies in…

Sharing Her Wealth

[Simone Weil] continued giving her comrades her lucid and sad reflections, completely free of the blur of opinion, clear of the complacency of illusion, and untouched by the concerns of personal ambition. –Gabriella Fiori, Simone Weil:…

Favorite Simone Weil Passages

It is perhaps even more useful to contemplate our stupidity than our sin.  Method of investigation— as soon as one has arrived at any position, try to find in what sense the contrary is true….

Reading’s Joys

“Nothing is more beautiful than Plato; such reading, for those who are able to understand him, can give one happiness even in the most miserable circumstances.” –Simone Weil

Look up!

“Do you look at the stars a lot? Do you know them? Plato said that sight is not truly precious unless it helps us to know the stars, the planets, the moon, and the sun….

Cheer Up: Reminders

Furnace. The first evening, about 5 o’clock, the pain from the extreme heat, exhaustion, and headaches make me completely lose control of my movements. I can’t lower the furnace damper. A coppersmith jumps up and…

Keep It Simple

The goal of human life is constructing an architecture of the soul. –Simone Weil, quoted in Gabriella Fiori, Simone Weil: An Intellectual Biography