Blaise Pascal Quotes
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It is not shameful for a man to succumb to pain and it is shameful to succumb to pleasure.
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What a vast difference there is between knowing God and loving Him.
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Lust is the source of all our actions, and humanity.
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Curiosity is only vanity. Most frequently we wish not to know, but to talk. We would not take a sea voyage for the sole pleasure of seeing without hope of ever telling.
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Ugly deeds are most estimable when hidden.
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Mediocrity makes the most of its native possessions.
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No religion except ours has taught that man is born in sin; none of the philosophical sects has admitted it; none therefore has spoken the truth.
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The greater intellect one has, the more originality one finds in men. Ordinary persons find no difference between men.
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The last thing that we find in making a book is to know what we must put first.
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Chance gives rise to thoughts, and chance removes them; no art can keep or acquire them.
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Curiosity is only vanity. We usually only want to know something so that we can talk about it.
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Things are always at their best in their beginning.
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Those who write against vanity want the glory of having written well, and their readers the glory of reading well, and I who write this have the same desire, as perhaps those who read this have also.
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It is a dangerous experiment to call in gratitude as an ally to love. Love is a debt which inclination always pays, obligation never.
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En un mot, l'homme conna|"t qu'il est mise rable: il est donc mise rable, puisqu'il l'est; mais il est bien grand, puisqu'il le conna|"t. In one word, man knows that he is miserable and therefore he is miserable because he knows it; but he is also worthy, because he knows his condition.
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The stream is always purer at its source. [Fr., Les choses valent toujours mieux dans leur source.]
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Undoubtedly equality of goods is just; but, being unable to cause might to obey justice, men has made it just to obey might. Unable to strengthen justice, they have justified might--so that the just and the strong should unite, and there should be peace, which is the sovereign good.
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All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.
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Force rules the world-not opinion; but it is opinion that makes use of force.
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Two things control men's nature, instinct and experience.
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To speak freely of mathematics, I find it the highest exercise of the spirit; but at the same time I know that it is so useless that I make little distinction between a man who is only a mathematician and a common artisan. Also, I call it the most beautiful profession in the world; but it is only a profession.
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It is of dangerous consequence to represent to man how near he is to the level of beasts, without showing him at the same time his greatness. It is likewise dangerous to let him see his greatness without his meanness. It is more dangerous yet to leave him ignorant of either; but very beneficial that he should be made sensible of both.
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Men seek rest in a struggle against difficulties; and when they have conquered these, rest becomes insufferable.
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Once your soul has been enlarged by a truth, it can never return to its original size.