959 Quotes by Blaise Pascal

Nothing fortifies scepticism more than the fact that there are some who are not sceptics; if all were so, they would be wrong.

Christian piety annihilates the egoism of the heart; worldly politeness veils and represses it.

All I know is that I must soon die, but what I know least is this very death which I cannot escape.

All the good maxims which are in the world fail when applied to one's self.

There are two excesses: to exclude reason, to admit nothing but reason. The supreme achievement of reason is to realise that there is a limit to reason. Reason's last step is the recognition that there are an infinite number of things which are beyond it. It is merely feeble if it does not go as far as to realise that.

The present letter is a very long one, simply because I had no leisure to make it shorter.

If there is a God, He is infinitely incomprehensible, since, having, neither parts nor limits, He has no affinity to us. We are then incapable of knowing either what He is or if He is. [So] you must wager. Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager then without hesitation that he is.

It is the heart which perceives God and not the reason.

From whence comes it that a cripple in body does not irritate us, and that a crippled mind enrages us? It is because a cripple sees that we go right, and a distorted mind says that it is we who go astray. But for that we should have more pity and less rage.