"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."
Blaise Pascal
Mathematician, Physicist, Philosopher
Blaise Pascal was a French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher known for his contributions to probability theory and his work 'Pensées' on faith and reason.
- Born
- June 19, 1623
- Died
- August 19, 1662
- Quotes
- 727
- Rank
- #54
Quote collection
Blaise Pascal quotes (page 7 of 37)
727 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"The weather and my mood have little connection. I have my foggy and my fine days within me; my prosperity or misfortune has little to do with the matter."
"Nothing is so insufferable to man as to be completely at rest, without passions, without business, without diversion, without study. He then feels his nothingness, his forlornness, his insufficiency, his dependence, his weakness, his emptiness. There will immediately arise from the depth of his heart weariness, gloom, sadness, fretfulness, vexation, despair."
"Imagination decides everything."
"When everyone is moving towards depravity, no one seems to be moving, but if someone stops he shows up the others who are rushing on, by acting as a fixed point."
"We never love a person, but only qualities."
"Just as all things speak about God to those that know Him, and reveal Him to those that love Him, they also hide Him from all those that neither seek nor know Him."
"L'homme n'est ni ange ni be" te, et le malheur veut que qui veut faire l'ange fait la be" te. Man is neither angel nor beast.Unfortunately, he who wants to act the angel often acts the beast."
"When I have occasionally set myself to consider the different distractions of men, the pains and perils to which they expose themselves I have discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber."
"We implore the mercy of God, not that He may leave us at peace in our vices, but that He may deliver us from them."
"When we see a natural style, we are astonished and charmed; for we expected to see an author, and we find a person."
"The greatness of man is so evident that it is even proved by his wretchedness. For what in animals is nature, we call in man wretchedness--by which we recognize that, his nature being now like that of animals, he has fallen from a better nature which once was his."
"Do little things as if they were great, because of the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ who dwells in thee."
"I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter."
"What a vast difference there is between knowing God and loving Him."
"Silence. All human unhappiness comes from not knowing how to stay quietly in a room."
"It is not certain that everything is uncertain."
"Can anything be stupider than that a man has the right to kill me because he lives on the other side of a river and his ruler has a quarrel with mine, though I have not quarrelled with him?"
"Continuous eloquence wearies."
"I maintain that, if everyone knew what others said about him, there would not be four friends in the world."