Q0197

Simone Weil

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.
Thinker Simone Weil
School Moral Philosophy
Source Letter to Joë Bousquet (13 Apr 1942)
Theme Attention
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with Letter to Joë Bousquet (13 Apr 1942), within the tradition of Moral Philosophy. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of attention, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Simone Weil's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: Simone Weil. (n.d.). Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0197

MLA: Simone Weil. “Attention is the rarest and purest form of….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0197.

Chicago: Simone Weil. “Attention is the rarest and purest form of….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0197.

Same thinker

More from Simone Weil

  1. Absolute attention is prayer.
  2. Prayer consists of attention.

All quotations by Simone Weil

Same theme

More on attention

  1. All else belongs to others; time alone is ours.
  2. The essential achievement of the will is to attend to a difficult object and hold it fast before the mind.
  3. The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
  4. Absolute attention is prayer.
  5. Prayer consists of attention.

Browse the attention theme