"The amount of creative genius in any period is strictly in proportion to the amount of [prayer] . . . at that period."

"Extreme attention is what constitutes the creative faculty in man and the only extreme attention is religious.  The amount of creative genius in any period is strictly in proportion to the amount of extreme attention and thus of authentic religion at that period."

     Simone Weil, "Attention and will," in Gravity and grace, trans. Emma Craufurd (London:  Routledge and Kegan, 1963 [1952]), 106.