Simone Weil Quotes

We have, all of us, our duties. Every action of our lives, and every word that we utter, will either conduce to or detract from the discharge of our duty.

Morality is not the doctrine of how we may make ourselves happy, but how we may make ourselves worthy of happiness.

Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.

Laws control the lesser man... Right conduct controls the greater one.

Man is most happy, when his own actions are arguments and examples of his virtue.

Freedom is not the liberty do anything whatsoever. It is the freedom to do good

Let every man consider virtue as what devolves on himself. He may not yield the performance of it even to his teacher.

You must do right before you feel good.

Neither pleasure nor pain should enter as motives when one must do what must be done.

Virtue is despotic; life, reputation, every earthly good, must be surrendered at her voice. The law may seem hard, but it is the guardian of what it commands; and is the only sure defence of happiness.

For no phase of life, whether public or private, whether in business or in the home, whether one is working on what concerns oneself alone or dealing with another, can be without its moral duty; on the discharge of such duties depends all that is morally right, and on their neglect all that is morally wrong in life.

Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour ... If at my convenience I might break them, what would be their worth?

We must do what we conceive to be the right thing, and not bother our heads or burden our souls with whether we are going to be successful. Because if we don't do the right thing, we'll be doing the wrong thing, and we will just be part of the disease, and not a part of the cure.

Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good.

Jesus never instructed men to do what was right because it was right; yet this is the true reason why they should do it.

Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right to do what we ought.

The imperative is to define what is right and do it.

Doing is the great thing, for if people resolutely do what is right, they come in time to like doing it.

The man of virtuous soul commands not, nor obeys.

If I wanted to do wrong, I could not.

Happiness is secured through virtue; it is a good attained by man's own will.

We all have to take responsibility for what we say and do.

If only for the sake of elegance, I try to remain morally pure.

We need to have a purpose in this life. I'm pleading with you, I'm begging with you to do the right thing. And do it not for the sake of how it will impact your own lives, but only for the sake of doing the right thing.

I followed the law. Before God, before the law, before the people of the state of Florida who elected me, I know that I followed the law.