Quotessence
Home / Authors / Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal Quotes

Mathematician

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenIfsReasonKnowsDoeHeartThinkingMindBelieveWorldShouldMathematicalPeopleSoulTruthMathMathematicsHumansGivingMankind

Famous Blaise Pascal Quotes

“When we do not know the truth of a thing, it is good that there should exist a common error which determines the mind of man, as, for example, the moon, to which is attributed the change of seasons, the progress of diseases, etc. For the chief malady of man is a restless curiosity about things which he cannot understand; and it is not so bad for him to be in error as to be curious to no purpose.”

KnowsMenShouldMindTruthPurposeCommonProgressExampleMoonDiseaseSeasonsErrorsCuriosityDetermineCuriousChiefsMotiveEtcRestlessMaladySeasons Change
Book:Pascal's Pensees
Create image

“What matters it that man should have a little more knowledge of the universe? If he has it, he gets little higher. Is he not always infinitely removed from the end, and is not the duration of our life equally removed from eternity, even if it lasts ten years longer?”

IfsMenShouldYearsLittlesEndsMatterLastsUniverseKnowledgeOur LivesHigherTenShould HaveEternityInfinityWhat MattersDurationMore Knowledge
Book:Thoughts, Letters & Minor Works
Create image

“Let each of us examine his thoughts; he will find them wholly concerned with the past or the future. We almost never think of the present, and if we do think of it, it is only to see what light is throws on our plans for the future. The present is never our end. The past and the present are our means, the future alone our end. Thus we never actually live, but hope to live, and since we are always planning how to be happy, it is inevitable that we should never be so.”

IfsThinkingShouldMeanEndsLightPastPlansConcernedPlanningInevitableHow To Be HappyHope To Live
Book:Pascal Pensées
Create image

“I have spent much time in the study of the abstract sciences; but the paucity of persons with whom you can communicate on such subjects disgusted me with them. When I began to study man, I saw that these abstract sciences are not suited to him, and that in diving into them, I wandered farther from my real object than those who knew them not, and I forgave them for not having attended to these things. I expected then, however, that I should find some companions in the study of man, since it was so specifically a duty. I was in error. There are fewer students of man than of geometry.”

MenShouldPersonsRealScienceStudySawsSubjectsObjectsStudentsDutyCommunicationErrorsCommunicateExpectedAbstractCompanionFewerGeometryDivingDisgusted
Author:Blaise Pascal
Create image