To be a hero or a heroine, one must give an order to oneself.
Interpretation
Being a hero requires self-discipline and the ability to command oneself.
This quote by Simone Weil emphasizes the notion that true heroism begins from within. To embody heroic qualities, one must first cultivate self-control and determination, essentially leading oneself with purpose and intent. It highlights the internal struggle and responsibility that accompanies the pursuit of acts that define a hero or heroine.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal growth, you might say, 'As Simone Weil stated, to be a hero, one must give an order to oneself.'
The afflicted are not listened to. They are like someone whose tongue has been cut out and who occasionally forgets the fact. When they move their lips no ear perceives any sound. And they themselves soon sink into impotence in the use of language, because of the certainty of not being heard.
The appetite for power, even for universal power, is only insane when there is no possibility of indulging it; a man who sees the possibility opening before him and does not try to grasp it, even at the risk of destroying himself and his country, is either
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.
Evil is license, and that is why it is monotonous: everything has to be drawn from ourselves. One is condemned to false infinity. That is hell itself.
I am not a Catholic; but I consider the Christian idea, which has its roots in Greek thought and in the course of the centuries has nourished all of our European civilization, as something that one cannot renounce without becoming degraded.
How many people have been thus led, through lack of self-confidence, to stifle their most justified doubts?
Black men and women were not allowed to register to vote. My own mother, my own father, my grandfather and my uncles and aunts could not register to vote because each time they attempted to register to vote, they were told they could not pass the literacy test.
Indifference is dangerous, whether innocent or not.
You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn't exist anywhere except in the mind.
The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.
I am woman, hear me roar, in numbers too big to ignore, and I know too much to go back and pretend.
A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within.
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