“Only the one who gives without expectation of return truly gives.”
— Simone Weil[commonly attributed] Commonly cited reflection drawn from Weil's essays on the gratuitous; not a verified line
Commentary
This reflection expresses Weil's ideal of the gratuitous act, the giving that seeks no reward and produces no benefit for the giver. The ideal is connected to her account of the supernatural, in which true acts are those that participate in a good beyond calculation. Simone Pétrement's biography (1976) notes the intensity with which Weil pursued disinterested action in her own life, from her refusal of privileges to her service in the Spanish war. Eric Springsted (1986) reads the gratuitous in Weil as the expression of divine love in human action. Robert Coles observes that for Weil the gratuitous is a discipline as much as a feeling. The sentence is a summary and should be labelled as a commonly cited formulation rather than a verified passage.
Commentary
This reflection expresses Weil's ideal of the gratuitous act, the giving that seeks no reward and produces no benefit for the giver. The ideal is connected to her account of the supernatural, in which true acts are those that participate in a good beyond calculation. Simone Pétrement's biography (1976) notes the intensity with which Weil pursued disinterested action in her own life, from her refusal of privileges to her service in the Spanish war. Eric Springsted (1986) reads the gratuitous in Weil as the expression of divine love in human action. Robert Coles observes that for Weil the gratuitous is a discipline as much as a feeling. The sentence is a summary and should be labelled as a commonly cited formulation rather than a verified passage.