Blaise Pascal Quotes
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Amusement that is excessive and followed only for its own sake, allures and deceives us.
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It is certain that the soul is either mortal or immortal. The decision of this question must make a total difference in the principles of morals. Yet philosophers have arranged their moral system entirely independent of this. What an extraordinary blindness!
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We are usually convinced more easily by reasons we have found ourselves than by those which have occurred to others.
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Do they think that they have given us great pleasure by telling us that they hold our soul to be no more than wind or smoke, and saying it moreover in tones of pride and satisfaction? Is this then something to be said gaily? Is it not on the contrary something to be said sadly, as being the saddest thing in the world?
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Rivers are roads that move and carry us whither we wish to go. [Fr., Les rivieres sont des chemins qui marchant et qui portent ou l'on veut aller.]
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Those whom we call ancient were really new in all things, and properly constituted the infancy of mankind.
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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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Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.
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Everything that is incomprehensible does not, however, cease to exist.
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Man is obviously made for thinking. Therein lies all his dignity and his merit; and his whole duty is to think as he ought.
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The great mass of people judge well of things, for they are in natural ignorance, which is man's true state.
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Instinct teaches us to look for happiness outside ourselves.
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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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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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Man's greatness lies in his power of thought.
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To call a king "Prince" is pleasing, because it diminishes his rank.
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Nothing is good but mediocrity. The majority has settled that, and finds fault with him who escapes it at whichever end... To leave the mean is to abandon humanity.
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Who can doubt that we exist only to love? Disguise it, in fact, as we will, we love without intermission... We live not a moment exempt from its influence.
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There are only three types of people; those who have found God and serve him; those who have not found God and seek him, and those who live not seeking, or finding him. The first are rational and happy; the second unhappy and rational, and the third foolish and unhappy.
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If I had more time I would write a shorter letter.
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Nothing is more dastardly than to act with bravado toward God.
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No soul of high estate can take pleasure in slander. It betrays a weakness.
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True eloquence makes light of eloquence. True morality makes light of morality.
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Our nature consists in motion; complete rest is death.