“What a country calls its vital... interests are not things that help its people …” — Simone Weil

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.

It is not the cause for which men took up arms that makes a victory more just or less, it is the order that is established when arms have been laid down.

A science which does not bring us nearer to God is worthless.

With no matter what human being, taken individually, I always find reasons for concluding that sorrow and misfortune do not suit him; either because he seems too mediocre for anything so great, or, on the contrary, too precious to be destroyed.