Pascal, Blaise quotes
1623-1662 French Scientist Religious PhilosopherThe highest order of mind is accused of folly, as well as the lowest. Nothing is thoroughly approved but mediocrity. The majority has established this, and it fixes its fangs on whatever gets beyond it either way.
Pascal, Blaise
Choice
The last thing one discovers in composing a work is what to put first.
Pascal, Blaise
Books - Reading
Man finds nothing so intolerable as to be in a state of complete rest, without passions, without occupation, without diversion, without effort. Then he feels his nullity, loneliness, inadequacy, dependence, helplessness, emptiness.
Pascal, Blaise
Bores and Boredom
We like to be deceived.
Pascal, Blaise
Deception
Men never do evil so fully and cheerfully as when we do it out of conscience.
Pascal, Blaise
Conscience
Ugly deeds are most estimable when hidden.
Pascal, Blaise
Deeds and Good Deeds
Desire and force between them are responsible for all our actions; desire causes our voluntary acts, force our involuntary.
Pascal, Blaise
Desire
It is superstitious to put one s hopes in formalities, but arrogant to refuse to submit to them.
Pascal, Blaise
Ceremony
Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth.
Pascal, Blaise
Contradiction
Habit is the second nature which destroys the first.
Pascal, Blaise
Habit
Faith is different from proof; the latter is human, the former is a Gift from God.
Pascal, Blaise
Faith
Faith embraces many truths which seem to contradict each other.
Pascal, Blaise
Faith
Faith certainly tells us what the senses do not, but not the contrary of what they see; it is above, not against them.
Pascal, Blaise
Faith
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.
Pascal, Blaise
Faith
Habit is a second nature that destroys the first. But what is nature? Why is habit not natural? I am very much afraid that nature itself is only a first habit, just as habit is a second nature.
Pascal, Blaise
Habit
The charm of fame is so great that we like every object to which it is attached, even death.
Pascal, Blaise
Fame
Two things control men s nature, instinct and experience.
Pascal, Blaise
Experience
The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing: we know this in countless ways.
Pascal, Blaise
Heart
It is not good to be too free. It is not good to have everything one wants.
Pascal, Blaise
Freedom
If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager then without hesitation, that He exists.
Pascal, Blaise
God
Earnestness is enthusiasm tempered by reason.
Pascal, Blaise
Enthusiasm
Even those who write against fame wish for the fame of having written well, and those who read their works desire the fame of having read them.
Pascal, Blaise
Fame
We like security: we like the pope to be infallible in matters of faith, and grave doctors to be so in moral questions so that we can feel reassured.
Pascal, Blaise
Infallibility
Law, without force, is impotent.
Pascal, Blaise
Law and Lawyers
Jesus is the God whom we can approach without pride and before whom we can humble ourselves without despair.
Pascal, Blaise
Jesus Christ
Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.
Pascal, Blaise
Kindness
Nothing is so intolerable to man as being fully at rest, without a passion, without business, without entertainment, without care.
Pascal, Blaise
Passion
Imagination decides everything.
Pascal, Blaise
Imagination
Imagination disposes of everything; it creates beauty, justice, and happiness, which is everything in this world.
Pascal, Blaise
Imagination
We never live, but we hope to live; and as we are always arranging to be happy, it must be that we never are so.
Pascal, Blaise
Life and Living
We only consult the ear because the heart is wanting.
Pascal, Blaise
Listening
If you would have people speak well of you, then do not speak well of yourself.
Pascal, Blaise
Humility
The least movement is of importance to all nature. The entire ocean is affected by a pebble.
Pascal, Blaise
Influence
Between us and heaven or hell there is only life, which is the frailest thing in the world.
Pascal, Blaise
Life and Living
Nothing is as approved as mediocrity, the majority has established it and it fixes it fangs on whatever gets beyond it either way.
Pascal, Blaise
Mediocrity
When we are in love we seem to ourselves quite different from what we were before.
Pascal, Blaise
Love
What a strange vanity painting is; it attracts admiration by resembling the original, we do not admire.
Pascal, Blaise
Painters and Painting
We must learn our limits. We are all something but none of us are everything.
Pascal, Blaise
Possibilities
The more intelligent one is, the more men of originality one finds. Ordinary people find no difference between men.
Pascal, Blaise
Originality
It is right that what is just should be obeyed. It is necessary that what is strongest should be obeyed.
Pascal, Blaise
Obedience
To find recreation in amusement is not happiness.
Pascal, Blaise
Pleasure
To go beyond the bounds of moderation is to outrage humanity.
Pascal, Blaise
Moderation
To have no time for philosophy is to be a true philosopher.
Pascal, Blaise
Philosophers and Philosophy
All man s miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone.
Pascal, Blaise
Misers and Misery
People are usually more convinced by reasons they discovered themselves than by those found out by others.
Pascal, Blaise
Persuasion
The origins of disputes between philosophers is, that one class of them have undertaken to raise man by displaying his greatness, and the other to debase him by showing his miseries.
Pascal, Blaise
Philosophers and Philosophy
There are only three types of people; those who have found God and serve him; those who have not found God and seek him, and those who live not seeking, or finding him. The first are rational and happy; the second unhappy and rational, and the third foolish and unhappy.
Pascal, Blaise
People
The property of power is to protect.
Pascal, Blaise
Power
Do you wish people to think well of you? Don t speak well of yourself.
Pascal, Blaise
Speakers and Speaking
When we see a natural style, we are astonished and charmed; for we expected to see an author, and we find a person.
Pascal, Blaise
Style
Nothing gives rest but the sincere search for truth.
Pascal, Blaise
Rest
The eternal silence of these infinite spaces fills me with dread.
Pascal, Blaise
Space
Men despise religion. They hate it and are afraid it may be true.
Pascal, Blaise
Religion
One must know oneself. If this does not serve to discover truth, it at least serves as a rule of life and there is nothing better.
Pascal, Blaise
Self-discovery
Those are weaklings who know the truth and uphold it as long as it suits their purpose, and then abandon it.
Pascal, Blaise
Truth
Our nature consist in motion; complete rest is death.
Pascal, Blaise
Rest
Vanity of science. Knowledge of physical science will not console me for ignorance of morality in time of affliction, but knowledge of morality will always console me for ignorance of physical science.
Pascal, Blaise
Science and Scientists
Man s greatness lies in his power of thought.
Pascal, Blaise
Thoughts and Thinking
The multitude which is not brought to act as a unity, is confusion. That unity which has not its origin in the multitude is tyranny.
Pascal, Blaise
Unity
Any unity which doesn t have its origin in the multitudes is tyranny.
Pascal, Blaise
Unity
There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who think they are sinners and the sinners who think they are righteous.
Pascal, Blaise
Sin
If we examine our thoughts, we shall find them always occupied with the past and the future.
Pascal, Blaise
Thoughts and Thinking
Man is obviously made for thinking. Therein lies all his dignity and his merit; and his whole duty is to think as he ought.
Pascal, Blaise
Thoughts and Thinking
Man is only a reed, the weakest in nature; but he is a thinking reed. There is no need for the whole universe to take up arms to crush him: a vapor, a drop of water is enough to kill him. But even if the universe were to crush him, man would still be nobler than his slayer, because he knows that he is dying and the advantage the universe has over him. The universe knows nothing of this.
Pascal, Blaise
Thoughts and Thinking
Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.
Pascal, Blaise
Belief
We are only falsehood, duplicity, contradiction; we both conceal and disguise ourselves from ourselves.
Pascal, Blaise
Conflict
If we let ourselves believe that man began with divine grace, that he forfeited this by sin, and that he can be redeemed only by divine grace through the crucified Christ, then we shall find peace of mind never granted to philosophers. He who cannot believe is cursed, for he reveals by his unbelief that God has not chosen to give him grace.
Pascal, Blaise
Belief
Evil is easy, and has infinite forms.
Pascal, Blaise
Evil
Animals do not admire each other. A horse does not admire its companion.
Pascal, Blaise
Admiration
The war existing between the senses and reason.
Pascal, Blaise
Conflict
The struggle alone pleases us, not the victory.
Pascal, Blaise
Effort
If all men knew what each said of the other, there would not be four friends in the world.
Pascal, Blaise
Gossip
Beauty is a harmonious relation between something in our nature and the quality of the object which delights us.
Pascal, Blaise
Beauty
The gospel to me is simply irresistible.
Pascal, Blaise
Gospel
I maintain that, if everyone knew what others said about him, there would not be four friends in the world.
Pascal, Blaise
Gossip
I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man s being unable to sit still and quiet in a room alone.
Pascal, Blaise
Evil
I have made this letter a rather long one, only because I didn t have the leisure to make it shorter.
Pascal, Blaise
Wordiness
If I had more time I would write a shorter letter.
Pascal, Blaise
Writers and Writing
The last thing we decide in writing a book is what to put first.
Pascal, Blaise
Writers and Writing