A beautiful woman looking at her image in the mirror may very well believe the image is herself. An ugly woman knows it is not.

— Simone Weil

Affliction compels us to recognize as real what we do not think possible.

— Simone Weil

A hateful act is the transference to others of the degradation we bear in ourselves.

— Simone Weil

A hurtful act is the transference to others of the degradation which we bear in ourselves.

— Simone Weil

All sins are attempts to fill voids.

— Simone Weil

All the natural movements of the soul are controlled by laws analogous to those of physical gravity. Grace is the only exception. Grace fills empty spaces, but it can only enter where there is a void to receive it, and it is grace itself which makes this void. The imagination is continually at work filling up all the fissures through which grace might pass.

— Simone Weil

A mind enclosed in language is in prison.

— Simone Weil

As soon as men know that they can kill without fear of punishment or blame, they kill; or at least they encourage killers with approving smiles.

— Simone Weil

Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions reality can be attained only by someone who is detached.

— Simone Weil

At the very best, a mind enclosed in language is in prison. It is limited to the number of relations which words can make simultaneously present to it; and remains in ignorance of thoughts which involve the combination of a greater number. These thoughts are outside language, they are unforgivable, although they are perfectly rigorous and clear and although every one of the relations they involve is capable of precise expression in words. So the mind moves in a closed space of partial truth, which may be larger or smaller, without ever being able so much as to glance at what is outside.

— Simone Weil