1001Philosophers

Simone Weil Quotes on Politics

Simone Weil was a French philosopher, mystic, and political activist. This page collects quotes attributed to Simone Weil on the topic of politics, drawn from across the philosopher's works.

Quotes

  • “Liberty, taking the word in its concrete sense, consists in the ability to choose.”

    Ch. 3, Liberty
  • Attributed to Simone Weil:

    “To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.”

  • “The Pre-War Notebook (1933-1939), published in First and Last Notebooks (1970) edited by Richard Rees”

    Art is the symbol of the two noblest human efforts : to construct and to refrain from destruction .
  • “The prospects of revolution seem therefore quite restricted. For can a revolution avoid war ? It is, however, on this feeble chance that we must stake everything or abandon all hope . An advanced country will not encounter, in the case of revolution, the difficulties which in backward Russia served as a base for the barbarous regime of Stalin . But a war of any scope will give rise to others as formidable.”

    Reflections on War" (1933); also in Formative Writings (2009)
  • “Reflections on War" (1933); also in Formative Writings (2009)”

    The prospects of revolution seem therefore quite restricted. For can a revolution avoid war ? It is, however, on this feeble chance that we must stake everything or abandon all hope . An advanced country will not encounter, in the case of revolution, the difficulties which in backward Russia served as a base for the barbarous regime of Stalin . But a war of any scope will give rise to others as fo