We must not wish for the disappearance of our troubles but for the grace to transform them.
Interpretation
Instead of hoping for our problems to vanish, we should seek the ability to change and grow from them.
This quote by Simone Weil encourages us to face our troubles head-on rather than wishing them away. It emphasizes that the true strength lies in our capacity to transform our challenges into opportunities for growth, resilience, and grace. By understanding and accepting our difficulties, we can learn valuable lessons and become stronger individuals.
In practice
In a motivational talk about resilience, I might say, 'As Simone Weil puts it, we must not wish for the disappearance of our troubles, but for the grace to transform them.'
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?
The most important 6 inches on the battlefield is between your ears.
I think a lot of people, even Christians, are willing to be satisfied with gaining lots and lots of biblical knowledge - and many people go to Bible studies and don't realize it isn't enough to know what's right, it's applying the information and the knowledge that you have.
All of a sudden you realise that you are the person who has control of your life.
Experience is the child of thought, and thought is the child of action.
You can fool some of the people some of the time -- and that's enough to make a decent living.
Somehow, we have to realize that what we watch and what we listen to not only often reflects our most violent tendencies but cultivates more violence.
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