Inspirational quotes by Blaise Pascal.
The heart has its reasons which reason knows not.
I have only made this letter longer because I have not had the time to make it shorter.", 1657)
I made this [letter] very long, because I did not have the leisure to make it shorter.
To make light of philosophy is to be a true philosopher.
To ridicule philosophy is really to philosophize.
When I see the blind and wretched state of men, when I survey the whole universe in its deadness, and man left to himself with no light, as though lost in this corner of the universe without knowing who put him there, what he has to do, or what will become of him when he dies, incapable of knowing anything, I am moved to terror, like a man transported in his sleep to some terrifying desert island, who wakes up quite lost, with no means of escape. Then I marvel that so wretched a state does not drive people to despair.
The world is a good judge of things, for it is in natural ignorance, which is man's true state. The sciences have two extremes which meet. The first is the pure natural ignorance in which all men find themselves at birth. The other extreme is that reached by great intellects, who, having run through all that men can know, find they know nothing, and come back again to that same ignorance from which they set out; but this is a learned ignorance which is conscious of itself. Those between the two, who have departed from natural ignorance and not been able to reach the other, have some smattering of this vain knowledge and pretend to be wise. These trouble the world and are bad judges of everything. The people and the wise constitute the world; these despise it, and are despised. They judge badly of everything, and the world judges rightly of them.
Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed.
Δύο υπερβολές : ν' αποκλείουμε το Λόγο, και να μη δεχόμαστε παρά μόνο το Λόγο.
Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.
It is man's natural sickness to believe that he possesses the truth.
He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God's providence to lead him aright
Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth.
Fire. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and the scholars. I will not forget thy word. Amen.
Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. Love still stands when all else has fallen.
The last thing one discovers in composing a work is what to put first.
If we submit everything to reason our religion will be left with nothing mysterious or supernatural. If we offend the principles of reason our religion will be absurd and ridiculous . . . There are two equally dangerous extremes: to exclude reason, to admit nothing but reason.
To make a man a saint, it must indeed be by grace; and whoever doubts this does not know what a saint is, or a man.
There are three sources of belief: reason, custom, inspiration.
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
Since we cannot know all there is to be known about anything, we ought to know a little about everything.
He no longer loves the person whom he loved ten years ago. I quite believe it. She is no longer the same, nor is he. He was young, and she also; she is quite different. He would perhaps love her yet, if she were what she was then.
Men spend their time in following a ball or a hare it is the pleasure even of kings.
Few friendships would survive if each one knew what his friend says of him behind his back
All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.
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