Blaise Pascal Quotes
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Man is to himself the most wonderful object in nature; for he cannot conceive what the body is, still less what the mind is, and least of all how a body should be united to a mind. This is the consummation of his difficulties, and yet it is his very being.
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No animal admires another animal.
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If a soldier or labourer complain of the hardship of his lot, set him to do nothing.
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Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too; this is why a great and clear mind loves ardently and sees distinctly what it loves.
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Man's greatness lies in his power of thought.
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All the troubles of life come upon us because we refuse to sit quietly for a while each day in our rooms.
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Anyone who found the secret of rejoicing when things go well without being annoyed when they go badly would have found the point.
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Imagination magnifies small objects with fantastic exaggeration until they fill our soul, and with bold insolence cuts down great things to its own size, as when speaking of God.
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There should be in eloquence that which is pleasing and that which is real; but that which is pleasing should itself be real.
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No one is offended at not seeing everything; but one does not like to be mistaken, and that perhaps arises from the fact that man naturally cannot see everything, and that naturally he cannot err in the side he looks at, since the perceptions of our senses are always true.
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If we let ourselves believe that man began with divine grace, that he forfeited this by sin, and that he can be redeemed only by divine grace through the crucified Christ, then we shall find peace of mind never granted to philosophers. He who cannot believe is cursed, for he reveals by his unbelief that God has not chosen to give him grace.
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We are so presumptuous that we wish to be known to all the world, even to those who come after us; and we are so vain that the esteem of five or six persons immediately around us is enough to amuse and satisfy us.
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We are not satisfied with real life; we want to live some imaginary life in the eyes of other people and to seem different from what we actually are.
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It is an appalling thing to feel all one possesses drain away.
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The more I see of Mankind, the more I prefer my dog.
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The art of revolutionizing and overturning states is to undermine established customs, by going back to their origin, in order to mark their want of justice.
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Let man reawake and consider what he is compared with the reality of things; regard himself lost in this remote corner of Nature; and from the tiny cell where he lodges, to wit the Universe, weigh at their true worth earth, kingdoms, towns, himself. What is a man face to face with infinity?
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If I had more time I would write a shorter letter.
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Do you wish people to think well of you? Don't speak well of yourself.
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The arithmetical machine produces effects that approach nearer to thought than all the actions of animals. But it does nothing that would enable us to attribute will to it, as to the animals.
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It's not those who write the laws that have the greatest impact on society. It's those who write the songs.
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Nothing is so important to man as his own state; nothing is so formidable to him as eternity. And thus it is unnatural that thereshould be men indifferent to the loss of their existence and to the perils of everlasting suffering.
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Do little things as if they were great, because of the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ who dwells in thee.
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Imagination decides everything.