Blaise Pascal Quotes
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That queen, of error, whom we call fancy and opinion, is the more deceitful because she does not always deceive. She would be the infallible rule of truth if she were the infallible rule of falsehood; but being only most frequently in error, she gives no evidence of her real quality, for she marks with the same character both that which is true and that which is false.
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That a religion may be true, it must have knowledge of our nature.
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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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Chance gives rise to thoughts, and chance removes them; no art can keep or acquire them.
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Force rules the world-not opinion; but it is opinion that makes use of force.
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You always admire what you really don't understand.
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All the excesses, all the violence, and all the vanity of great men, come from the fact that they know not what they are: it being difficult for those who regard themselves at heart as equal with all men... For this it is necessary for one to forget himself, and to believe that he has some real excellence above them, in which consists this illusion that I am endeavoring to discover to you.
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Once your soul has been enlarged by a truth, it can never return to its original size.
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Description of man: dependence, longing for independence, need.
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Jesus Christ came to tell men that they have no enemies but themselves.
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Knowing God without knowing our own wretchedness makes for pride. Knowing our own wretchedness without knowing God makes for despair. Knowing Jesus Christ strikes the balance because he shows us both God and our own wretchedness.
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All our troubles come from not being able to be alone.
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Not to be mad is another form of madness.
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There is a lot of difference between tempting and leading into error. God tempts but does not lead into error. To tempt is to provide opportunities for us to do certain things if we do not love God, but putting us under no necessity to do so. To lead into error is to compel a man necessarily to conclude and follow a falsehood.
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The truth about nature we discover with our brains. The truth about religion we discover with our hearts.
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All men naturally hate one another. I hold it a fact, that if men knew exactly what one says of the other, there would not be four friends in the world.
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Not only do we know God through Jesus Christ, we only know ourselves through Jesus Christ.
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Words differently arranged have a different meaning, and meanings differently arranged have different effects.
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Too much and too little wine. Give him none, he cannot find truth; give him too much, the same.
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Ugly deeds are most estimable when hidden.
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All I know is that I must soon die, but what I know least is this very death which I cannot escape.
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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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Each one is all in all to himself; for being dead, all is dead to him.
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It is the heart which perceives God and not the reason. That is what faith is: God perceived by the heart, not by the reason.