Sophie

“To approach the Other in conversation is to welcome his expression, in which at each instant he overflows the idea a thought would carry away from it. It is therefore to receive from the Other beyond the capacity of the I, which means exactly: to have the idea of infinity. But this also means: to be taught. The relation with the Other, or Conversation, is a non-allergic relation, an ethical relation; but inasmuch as it is welcomed this conversation is a teaching. Teaching is not reducible to maieutics; it comes from the exterior and brings me more than I contain. In its non-violent transitivity the very epiphany of the face is produced.”
― Emmanuel Levinas, Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority

“The true life is absent.' But we are in the world. Metaphysics arises and is maintained in this alibi.”
― Emmanuel Lévinas, Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority

“Electra weeping for the dead Orestes. If we love God while thinking that he does not exist, he will manifest his existence.”
― Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace

“Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.”
― Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace