Man lives between the infinitely large and the infinitely small. Blaise Pascal More Quotes by Blaise Pascal More Quotes From Blaise Pascal Man is to himself the most wonderful object in nature; for he cannot conceive what the body is, still less what the mind is, and least of all how a body should be united to a mind. This is Blaise Pascal body mind men Those who are clever in imagination are far more pleased with themselves than prudent men could reasonably be. Blaise Pascal imagination clever men For after all what is man in nature? A nothing in relation to infinity, all in relation to nothing, a central point between nothing and all and infinitely far from understanding either. The ends of things and their beginnings are impregnably concealed from him in an impenetrable secret. He is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness out of which he was drawn and the infinite in which he is engulfed. Blaise Pascal nature time life Nobody is publicly accepted as an expert on poetry unless he displays the sign of poet, mathematician, etc., but universal men want no sign and make hardly any distinction between the crafts of poet and embroiderer. Universal men are not called poets or mathematicians, etc. But they are all these things and judges of them too. No one could guess what they are, and they will talk about whatever was being talked about when they came in. One quality is not more noticeable in them than another, unless it becomes necessary to put it into practice, and then we remember it. Blaise Pascal judging practice men To doubt is a misfortune, but to seek when in doubt is an indispensable duty. So he who doubts and seeks not is at once unfortunate and unfair. Blaise Pascal unfair duty doubt The best defense against logic is ignorance. Blaise Pascal defense ignorance math [On vanity:] The nose of Cleopatra: if it had been shorter, the face of the earth would have changed. Blaise Pascal vanity noses beauty We know then the existence and nature of the finite, because we also are finite and have extension. We know the existence of the infinite and are ignorant of its nature, because it has extension like us, but not limits like us. But we know neither the existence nor the nature of God, because he has neither extension nor limits. Blaise Pascal ignorant limits god The art of revolutionizing and overturning states is to undermine established customs, by going back to their origin, in order to mark their want of justice. Blaise Pascal justice order art Le silence est la plus grande perse cution: jamais les saints ne se sont tus. Silence is the greatest of all persecutions: no saint was ever silent. Blaise Pascal silent saint silence The stream is always purer at its source. Blaise Pascal streams source purity The eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me. Blaise Pascal space silence science Let us imagine a number of men in chains and all condemned to death, where some are killed each day in the sight of the others, and those who remain see their own fate in that of their fellows and wait their turn, looking at each other sorrowfully and without hope. It is an image of the condition of man. Blaise Pascal fate men death Reason is the slow and torturous method by which those who do not know the truth discover it Blaise Pascal method reason knows He who does not know his way to the sea should take a river for his guide. Blaise Pascal sea doe rivers Discourses on humility are a source of pride in the vain and of humility in the humble. Blaise Pascal pride humility humble There are two kinds of people one can call reasonable: those who serve God with all their heart because they know him, and those who seek him with all their heart because they do not know him. Blaise Pascal heart two people The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing. We feel it in a thousand things. I say that the heart naturally loves the Universal Being, and naturally loves itself; and it gives itself to one or the other, and hardens itself against one or the other, as it chooses...it is the heart that feels God, not the reason; this is faith. Blaise Pascal reason heart giving Man's grandeur is that he knows himself to be miserable. Blaise Pascal grandeur miserable men Il n'y a que deux sortes d'hommes: les uns justes, qui se croient pe cheurs; les autres pe cheurs, qui se croient justes. There are only two types of people: the virtuous who believe themselves to be sinners and the sinners who believe themselves to be virtuous. Blaise Pascal two believe people
