Blaise Pascal Quotes
-
It is necessary to show that there is nothing so little known as the above rules, nothing more difficult to practice, or nothing more useful and universal.
-
Sneezing absorbs all the functions of the soul just as much as the [sexual] act, but we do not draw from it the same conclusions against the greatness of man, because it is involuntary; although we bring it about, we do so involuntarily. It is not for the sake of the thing in itself but for another end, and is therefore not a sign of man's weakness, or his subjection to this act.
-
Happiness can be found neither in ourselves nor in external things, but in God and in ourselves as united to him.
-
Great and small suffer the same mishaps.
-
The gospel to me is simply irresistible.
-
The eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me.
-
I can readily conceive of a man without hands or feet; and I could conceive of him without a head, if experience had not taught me that by this he thinks, Thought then, is the essence of man, and without this we cannot conceive of him.
-
All men naturally hate each other. We have used concupiscence as best we can to make it serve the common good, but this is mere sham and a false image of charity, for essentially it is just hate.
-
Passion cannot be beautiful without excess; one either loves too much or not enough.
-
The last thing we decide in writing a book is what to put first.
-
The last function of reason is to recognize that there are an infinity of things which surpass it.
-
The only shame is to have none.
-
All the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber.
-
If ignorance were bliss, he'd be a blister.
-
Man is so made that by continually telling him he is a fool he believes it, and by continually telling it to himself he makes himself believe it. For man holds an inward talk with himself, which it pays him to regulate.
-
We must learn our limits. We are all something, but none of us are everything.
-
A little thing comforts us because a little thing afflicts us.
-
The mind must not be forced; artificial and constrained manners fill it with foolish presumption, through unnatural elevation and vain and ridiculous inflation, instead of solid and vigorous nutriment.
-
To ridicule philosophy is really to philosophize.
-
The captain of a ship is not chosen from those of the passengers who comes from the best family.
-
There is nothing that we can see on earth which does not either show the wretchedness of man or the mercy of God. One either sees the powerlessness of man without God, or the strength of man with God.
-
Most of man's trouble comes from his inability to be still.
-
Unless we love the truth we cannot know it.
-
Evil is easily discovered; there is an infinite variety; good is almost unique. But some kinds of evil are almost as difficult to discover as that which we call good; and often particular evil of this class passes for good. It needs even a certain greatness of soul to attain to this, as to that which is good.