Blaise Pascal Quotes
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One of the greatest artifices the devil uses to engage men in vice and debauchery, is to fasten names of contempt on certain virtues, and thus fill weak souls with a foolish fear of passing for scrupulous, should they desire to put them in practice.
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When we wish to correct with advantage, and to show another that he errs, we must notice from what side he views the matter, for on that side it is usually true.
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If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.
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Our own interests are still an exquisite means for dazzling our eyes agreeably.
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Is it courage in a dying man to go, in weakness and in agony, to affront an almighty and eternal God?
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(Man,) the glory and the scandal of the universe.
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The heart has its reasons, which Reason does not know. We feel it in a thousand things. It is the heart which feels God, and not Reason. This, then, is perfect faith: God felt in the heart.
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Habit is a second nature that destroys the first. But what is nature? Why is habit not natural? I am very much afraid that nature itself is only a first habit, just as habit is a second nature.
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Reverend Fathers, my letters did not usually follow each other at such close intervals, nor were they so long.... This one would not be so long had I but the leisure to make it shorter.
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Vanity of science. Knowledge of physical science will not console me for ignorance of morality in time of affliction, but knowledge of morality will always console me for ignorance of physical science.
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There are vices which have no hold upon us, but in connection with others; and which, when you cut down the trunk, fall like the branches.
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Those are weaklings who know the truth and uphold it as long as it suits their purpose, and then abandon it.
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The greatness of man is so evident that it is even proved by his wretchedness. For what in animals is nature, we call in man wretchedness--by which we recognize that, his nature being now like that of animals, he has fallen from a better nature which once was his.
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The more I see of Mankind, the more I prefer my dog.
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We implore the mercy of God, not that He may leave us at peace in our vices, but that He may deliver us from them.
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Silence is the greatest persecution; never do the saints keep themselves silent.
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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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The finite is annihilated in the presence of the infinite, and becomes a pure nothing. So our spirit before God, so our justice before divine justice.
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The origins of disputes between philosophers is, that one class of them have undertaken to raise man by displaying his greatness, and the other to debase him by showing his miseries.
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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.
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Le silence est la plus grande perse cution: jamais les saints ne se sont tus. Silence is the greatest of all persecutions: no saint was ever silent.
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I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter.
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When intuition and logic agree, you are always right.
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Instinct teaches us to look for happiness outside ourselves.