What do you think?
Rate this book
First and last notebooks
if I could find the point of emergence of the root of errors
368 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1970
11 people are currently reading
459 people want to read
About the author
Simone Weil
289books1,648followersSimone Weil was a French philosopher, Christian mystic, and social activist. Weil was born in Paris to Alsatian agnostic Jewish parents who fled the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. Her brilliance, ascetic lifestyle, introversion, and eccentricity limited her ability to mix with others, but not to teach and participate in political movements of her time. She wrote extensively with both insight and breadth about political movements of which she was a part and later about spiritual mysticism. Weil biographer Gabriella Fiori writes that Weil was "a moral genius in the orbit of ethics, a genius of immense revolutionary range".
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 10, 2023
she drives me insane actually
August 29, 2019
"An official does not neglect God because he is absorbed in schemes for advancing his career, but he absorbs himself in the schemes in order to avoid thinking about God."
Want to read
January 2, 2025If one thinks of the objective conditions, the transition from our present system to a decentralized system is very difficult – impossible, because it would require a conscious collaboration between power and the oppressed. The powers will take no steps towards diminishing themselves: even if they wished to, they could not, because of their rivalries.
The machine will go on functioning by its own laws until it wrecks itself.
Refuse to be an accomplice. Don't lie.–don't keep your eyes shut. Don't blink. Don't even blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast, faster than you could believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink! Good luck.
The machine will go on functioning by its own laws until it wrecks itself.
Refuse to be an accomplice. Don't lie.–don't keep your eyes shut. Don't blink. Don't even blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast, faster than you could believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink! Good luck.
Read
April 23, 2024Im putting this book down for now. I can see reading parts of it now and then, but I can’t see reading it through. It’s not a page turner. I’ve been thinking today: Everyone quotes Simone Weil, but no one ever reads her. Weil wrote a lot in her short life and was broad-minded and erudite. Much of what she writes is based on her studies of philosophies, ancient Greek—scanning ahead I saw she had many entries on the Norse Gods and on astrology.
Much of what she said in the pages I read is complex, or obtuse. I don’t have the head for it. Not now, anyway.
In the first couple pages I did read some enlightening passages (which I will now quote):
“…the transition from our present system to a decentralized system is very difficult— impossible, because it would require a conscious collaboration between power and the oppressed. The powers will take no steps toward diminishing themselves: even if they wished to, they could not, because of their rivalries. …
The machine will go on functioning by its own laws until it wrecks itself.
Refuse to be an accomplice. Don’t lie— don’t keep your eyes shut.”
The first part of this quote is a realistic, despairing, assessment of politics. She concludes, however, that we (I think she was admonishing herself, actually) have no alternative as human beings to witness the oppression, acknowledge it and refuse to be part of it.
The other quote:
“What shows that work— if it is not an inhuman kind—is meant for us is its joy, a joy which even our exhaustion does not lessen…
The workers are reluctant to confess to this joy— because they have the impression that it might lead to a reduction in wages,”
Much of what she said in the pages I read is complex, or obtuse. I don’t have the head for it. Not now, anyway.
In the first couple pages I did read some enlightening passages (which I will now quote):
“…the transition from our present system to a decentralized system is very difficult— impossible, because it would require a conscious collaboration between power and the oppressed. The powers will take no steps toward diminishing themselves: even if they wished to, they could not, because of their rivalries. …
The machine will go on functioning by its own laws until it wrecks itself.
Refuse to be an accomplice. Don’t lie— don’t keep your eyes shut.”
The first part of this quote is a realistic, despairing, assessment of politics. She concludes, however, that we (I think she was admonishing herself, actually) have no alternative as human beings to witness the oppression, acknowledge it and refuse to be part of it.
The other quote:
“What shows that work— if it is not an inhuman kind—is meant for us is its joy, a joy which even our exhaustion does not lessen…
The workers are reluctant to confess to this joy— because they have the impression that it might lead to a reduction in wages,”
December 15, 2023
I've been reading this book on and off for a few months now. And all I can say is that I don't feel up to the task. I am one of those obsessive readers who will try anything, but these are notebooks, and I think they are for someone more knowledgeable of all thoughts Weil. I would prefer to read her as she was published, not as her thoughts came and went. She is an incredible thinker, and I think she mentions God in every paragraph, or at least in every page. She connects everything through god and she was austere and just incredible. I will keep reading her, as difficult as this book was for me. Because I think she is just so unique, this mystic incredible woman and philosopher, whose life was just as intense as her writing is. And maybe when I have read more, I will come back to these notebooks, and try again.
October 6, 2020
Exquisite and revelatory for anyone who has loved any other works by Simone. Technically I am only about halfway through this but I've set it aside for awhile to savor it. A real comfort in times like these.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.