Blaise Pascal

“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...”

“And if one loves me for my judgement, memory, he does not love me, for I can lose these qualities without losing myself. Where, then, is this Ego, if it be neither in the body nor in the sou...”

“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 al...”

“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.”

“Fire. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and the scholars. I will not forget thy word. Amen.”

“He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God's providence to lead him aright”

“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.”

“Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth.”

“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 . . . Th...”

“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.”

“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”

“Nie betrieben die Menschen das Böse so umfassend und freudig wie aus religiöser Überzeugung.”

“Ciascuno esamini i propri pensieri: li troverà sempre occupati dal passato e dall'avvenire. Non pensiamo quasi mai al presente, o se ci pensiamo, è solo per prenderne lume al fine di predisp...”

“Since we cannot know all there is to be known about anything, we ought to know a little about everything.”