Affliction compels us to recognize as real what we did not believe possible.
Le malheur contraint a reconnaitre comme reel ce qu'on ne croit pas possible.
Philosophers
Simone Weil
Born in Paris in 1909, Simone Weil died at 34, leaving behind a body of thought that defies conventional classification. A graduate of the Ecole Normale Superieure, she voluntarily became a factory worker, forging from the crucible of physical suffering a philosophy centered on 'affliction' (malheur) and 'attention' (attention). Her posthumous collection Gravity and Grace, edited by Camus, has been read across the boundaries of religion, philosophy, and social thought ever since.
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Simone Weil's Other Quotes
Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.
All the natural movements of the soul are governed by laws analogous to those of physical gravity. Grace alone is the exception.
Prayer is nothing other than attention in its fullness.
The need for roots is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.