Blaise Pascal Quotes
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Some vices only lay hold of us by means of others, and these, like branches, fall on removal of the trunk.
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They men have corrupted this God's supernatural order by making profane things what they should make of holy things, because in fact, we believe scarcely any thing except which pleases us.
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I bring you the gift of these four words: I believe in you.
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All of our miseries prove our greatness. They are the miseries of a dethroned monarch.
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Plurality which is not reduced to unity is confusion; unity which does not depend on plurality is tyranny.
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If we regulate our conduct according to our own convictions, we may safely disregard the praise or censure of others.
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Fashion is a tyrant from which nothing frees us. We must suit ourselves to its fantastic tastes. But being compelled to live under its foolish laws, the wise man is never the first to follow, nor the last to keep it.
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I can approve of those only who seek in tears for happiness.
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Things have different qualities, and the soul different inclinations; for nothing is simple which is presented to the soul, and the soul never presents itself simply to any object. Hence it comes that we weep and laugh at the same thing.
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It is not your strength and your natural power that subjects all these people to you. Do not pretend then to rule them by force or to treat them with harshness. Satisfy their reasonable desires; alleviate their necessities; let your pleasure consist in being beneficent; advance them as much as you can, and you will act like the true king of desire.
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Caesar was too old, it seems to me, to go off and amuse himself conquering the world. Such a pastime was all right for Augustus and Alexander; they were young men, not easily held in check, but Caesar ought to have been more mature.
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We must make good people wish that the Christian faith were true, and then show that it is.
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Several particular maxims... are as powerful, although false, in carrying away belief, as those the most true.
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What is it, in your opinion, to be a great nobleman? It is to be master of several objects that men covet, and thus to be able to satisfy the wants and the desires of many. It is these wants and these desires that attract them towards you, and that make them submit to you: were it not for these, they would not even look at you; but they hope, by these services... to obtain from you some part of the good which they desire, and of which they see that you have the disposal.
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Mankind suffers from two excesses: to exclude reason, and to live by nothing but reason.
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All our reasoning boils down to yielding to sentiment.
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By space the universe encompasses and swallows me up like an atom; by thought I comprehend the world.
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It is not among extraordinary and fantastic things that excellence is to be found, of whatever kind it may be. We rise to attain it and become removed from it: it is oftenest necessary to stoop for it.
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We sail within a vast sphere, ever drifting in uncertainty, driven from end to end. When we think to attach ourselves to any pointand to fasten to it, it wavers and leaves us; and if we follow it, it eludes our grasp, slips past us, and vanishes for ever. Nothing stays for us.
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What a difficult thing it is to ask someone's advice on a matter without coloring his judgment by the way in which we present our problem.
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Civil wars are the greatest of evils. They are inevitable, if we wish to reward merit, for all will say that they are meritorious.
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FEU. Dieu d'Abraham, Dieu d'Isaac, Dieu de Jacob, non des philosophes et savants. Certitude. Certitude. Sentiment. Joie. Paix.
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Our notion of symmetry is derived form the human face. Hence, we demand symmetry horizontally and in breadth only, not vertically nor in depth.
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Custom determines what is agreeable.