Blaise Pascal

“We are only falsehood, duplicity, contradiction; we both conceal and disguise ourselves from ourselves.”

“Noble deeds that are concealed are most esteemed.”

“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.”

“The immortality of the soul is a matter which is of so great consequence to us and which touches us so profoundly that we must have lost all feeling to be indifferent about it.”

“A trifle consoles us, for a trifle distresses us.”

“We only consult the ear because the heart is wanting.”

“Faith embraces many truths which seem to contradict each other.”

“Faith certainly tells us what the senses do not, but not the contrary of what they see; it is above, not against them.”

“Faith indeed tells what the senses do not tell, but not the contrary of what they see. It is above them and not contrary to them.”

“Men often take their imagination for their heart; and they believe they are converted as soon as they think of being converted.”

“People are usually more convinced by reasons they discovered themselves than by those found by others.”

“Custom is our nature. What are our natural principles but principles of custom?”

“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 natu...”

“I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man's being unable to sit still in a room.”

“People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have themselves discovered than by those which have come in to the mind of others.”

“If our condition were truly happy, we would not seek diversion from it in order to make ourselves happy.”

“The finite is annihilated in the presence of the infinite, and becomes a pure nothing. So our spirit before God, so our justice before divine justice.”

“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.”

“We sail within a vast sphere, ever drifting in uncertainty, driven from end to end.”

“Few friendships would survive if each one knew what his friend says of him behind his back.”