Quotes From "Pensaes" By Blaise Pascal

The world is a good judge of things, for it is in natural ignorance, which is man's true state. The sciences have two extremes which meet. The first is the pure natural ignorance in which all men find themselves at birth. The other extreme is that reached by great intellects, who, having run through all that men can know, find they know nothing, and come back again to that same ignorance from which they set out; but this is a learned ignorance which is conscious of itself. Those between the two, who have departed from natural ignorance and not been able to reach the other, have some smattering of this vain knowledge and pretend to be wise. These trouble the world and are bad judges of everything. The people and the wise constitute the world; these despise it, and are despised. They judge badly of everything, and the world judges rightly of them. Blaise Pascal

Δύο υπερβολέÏ‚ : ν' αποκλείουμε το Λόγο, και να μη δεχόμαστε παρά μόνο το Λόγο. Blaise Pascal

If we submit everything to reason our religion will be left with nothing mysterious or supernatural. If we offend the principles of reason our religion will be absurd and ridiculous .. . There are two equally dangerous extremes: to exclude reason, to admit nothing but reason. Blaise Pascal

He no longer loves the person whom he loved ten years ago. I quite believe it. She is no longer the same, nor is he. He was young, and she also; she is quite different. He would perhaps love her yet, if she were what she was then. Blaise Pascal

All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone. Blaise Pascal

Lust is the source of all our actions, and humanity. Blaise Pascal

Nature has made all her truths independent of one another. Our art makes one dependent on the other. Blaise Pascal

Those honor nature well, who teach that she can speak on everything. Blaise Pascal

All things can be deadly to us, even the things made to serve us; as in nature walls can kill us, and stairs can kill us, if we do not walk circumspectly. Blaise Pascal

The heart has its order, the mind has its own, which uses principles and demonstrations. The heart has a different one. We do not prove that we ought to be loved by setting out in order the causes of love; that would be absurd. Blaise Pascal

We do not content ourselves with the life we have in ourselves and in our own being; we desire to live an imaginary life in the mind of others, and for this purpose we endeavour to shine. We labour unceasingly to adorn and preserve this imaginary existence, and neglect the real. And if we possess calmness, or generosity, or truthfulness, we are eager to make it known, so as to attach these virtues to that imaginary existence. We would rather separate them from ourselves to join them to it; and we would willingly be cowards in order to acquire the reputation of being brave. A great proof of the nothingness of our being, not to be satisfied with the one without the other, and to renounce the one for the other! For he would be infamous who would not die to preserve his honour. Blaise Pascal

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. Blaise Pascal

If we do not know ourselves to be full of pride, ambition, lust, weakness, misery, and injustice, we are indeed blind. And if, knowing this, we do not desire deliverance, what can we say of a man...? Blaise Pascal

The knowledge of God without that of man's misery causes pride. The knowledge of man's misery without that of God causes despair. The knowledge of Jesus Christ is the middle course, because in Him we find both God and our misery. Blaise Pascal

If man studied himself, he would see how incapable he is of going further. Blaise Pascal

Curiosity is only vanity. We usually only want to know something so that we can talk about it. Blaise Pascal

People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have themselves discovered than by those which have come into the mind of others. Blaise Pascal

Finally, let them recognise that there are two kinds of people one can call reasonable; those who serve God with all their heart because they know Him, and those who seek Him with all their heart because they do not know Him. Blaise Pascal

Men seek rest in a struggle against difficulties; and when they have conquered these, rest becomes insufferable. Blaise Pascal

This dog is mine, " said those poor children; "that is my place in the sun." Here is the beginning and the image of the usurpation of all the earth. Blaise Pascal

The art of opposition and of revolution is to unsettle established customs, sounding them even to their source, to point out their want of authority and justice. Blaise Pascal

What a Chimera is man! What a novelty, a monster, a chaos, a contradiction, a prodigy! Judge of all things, an imbecile worm; depository of truth, and sewer of error and doubt; the glory and refuse of the universe. Blaise Pascal

I do not admire the excess of a virtue like courage unless I see at the same time an excess of the opposite virtue, as in Epaminondas, who possessed extreme courage and extreme kindness. We show greatness not by being at one extreme, but by touching both at once and occupying all the space in between. Blaise Pascal

Dull minds are never either intuitive or mathematical. Blaise Pascal

The charm of fame is so great, that we like every object to which it is attached, even death. Blaise Pascal

Knowing God without knowing our wretchedness leads to pride. Knowing our wretchedness without knowing God leads to despair. Knowing Jesus Christ is the middle course, because in him we find both God and our wretchedness. Blaise Pascal

We must keep our thought secret, and judge everything by it, while talking like the people. Blaise Pascal