959 Quotes by Blaise Pascal

Who would desire to have for a friend a man who talks in this fashion? Who would choose him out from others to tell him of his affairs? Who would have recourse to him in affliction? And indeed to what use in life could one put him?

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.

The property of power is to protect.

Vanity is so secure in the heart of man that everyone wants to be admired: even I who write this, and you who read this.

The supreme function of reason is to show man that some things are beyond reason.

It is your own assent to yourself, and the constant voice of your own reason, and not of others, that should make you believe.

La chose la plus importante a' toute la vie est le choix du me tier: le hasard en dispose. The most important thing in life is to choose a profession: chance arranges for that.

When a man who accepts the Christian doctrine lives unworthily of it, it is much clearer to say he is a bad Christian than to say he is not a Christian.

Montaigne is wrong in declaring that custom ought to be followed simply because it is custom, and not because it is reasonable or just.