Simone Weil Quotes

I have my books And my poetry to protect me; I am shielded in my armor, Hiding in my room, safe within my womb. I touch no one and no one touches me. I am a rock, I am an island.

When everything is lonely I can be my best friend.

I always knew I was different and that people had opinions about me. I guess I learned as best as I can to shield out a lot and live my life from within.

I keep my thoughts to myself, and I think that's one of the best ways to be.

I'm not a big 'cry on a shoulder' person. I'm very introverted when it comes to my own stuff.

I've lived so deep under masks, my interior was built to satisfy me alone - I have lived almost 60 years alone, mentally, and quite content to have it so.

I have, like, three or four friends and am a very private person.

The power to bring me out of solitude - or to push me back into it - had never belonged to another person. It was mine and only mine.

In those days, I still thoroughly enjoyed the romance I called "by myself"; I didn't know yet how it gets lonely, picks up a sharp edge later on that ruins a day now and then-- ruins more than that, if you're not careful.

Woe unto him that is never alone, and cannot bear to be alone.

In solitude the mind gains strength, and learns to lean upon herself; in the world it seeks or accepts of a few treacherous supports--the feigned compassion of one, the flattery of a second, the civilities of a third, the friendship of a fourth--they all deceive, and bring the mind back to retirement, reflection, and books.

But in spite of my great desire for intimacy, I've always been a loner. Perhaps when the longing for connection is as strong as it is in me, when the desire is for something so deep and true, one knows better than to try. One sees that this is not the place for that.

One's better off alone, and yet there are so many things that are impossible to fathom on one's own. In fact it's a terrible business and the task is a hard one.

When I'm all alone, nobody else can say goodbye.

Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don't be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish.

True individuality can be lonely.

I've been living alone for so long, everything about me’s private. I’m surprised anyone’s able to understand a word I say.

And so I learned what solitude really was. It was raw material - awesome, malleable,older than men or worlds or water. And it was merciless - for it let a man become precisely what he alone made of himself.

There is a core of loneliness. It's partly existential. Secondly, I was raised a loner. My parents were not there. My father was asked to leave because he couldn't metabolize ethanol. Actually, my mother ran away with us when I was 2 months old and my brother was 5. Real dramatic stuff: down the fire escape, through backyards. So, I sort of raised myself. I was alone a lot and I invented myself - I lived through the radio and through my imagination.

You cannot protect your solitude if you cannot make yourself odious.

My designs and labors and aspirations are my only friends.

Only he knew that to be left alone is not always to be forsaken.

The world in books seemed so much more alive to me than anything outside. I could see things I'd never seen before. Books and music were my best friends. I had a couple of good friends at school, but never met anyone I could really speak my heart to. We'd just make small talk, play soccer together. When something bothered me, I didn't talk with anyone about it. I thought it over all by myself, came to a conclusion, and took action alone. Not that I really felt lonely. I thought that's just the way things are. Human beings, in the final analysis, have to survive on their own.

However much you love somebody, you should always keep a part of yourself to yourself. Never give it all. You can never be yourself otherwise.

I live my own life and nurse my own wounds. It's not the best way to live. But it's the way I am.