68 quotes by Blaise Pascal to understand life

This thinker is known for his hunger for knowledge in both philosophy and science.

The contributions of this important character have transcended through time and maybe from the device where you are reading this article has been influenced by him. Blaise Pascal's thoughts and phrases are based on his work in the natural sciences.. Above all, they are important in philosophy and in the field of theology.

Among Pascal's contributions, we find the first digital calculator as well as contributions to the theory of probability. He left science to embrace Jansenism as a philosophy of life.

Blaise Pascal's most representative phrases of his thought.

Below we will see the phrases of Blaise Pascal that bring us closer to his way of understanding reality.

1. Can there be anything more ridiculous than the claim that a man has the right to kill me because he dwells across the water and his prince has a quarrel with mine even though I have no quarrel with him?

In this sentence, Blaise Pascal refers to war as one of the great evils of humanity.

2. The king is surrounded by people who think only of amusing him and preventing him from thinking of himself. For, however much of a king he may be, he is unhappy if he thinks about it.

A way of showing that the life of reflection often brings unhappiness and a life of anguish.

3. The spirit naturally believes and the will naturally loves; so that, in the absence of true objects, it is necessary to attach oneself to false ones.

About the attachment or relationship that we establish with objects or situations that sometimes are not the ones we need.

4. Description of man: dependence, desire for independence, need.

For Pascal, man in essence is a complex and contradictory being..

5. Man has illusions like a bird has wings. That is what sustains him.

Illusions keep us on the road, it is important to update and recreate them, a man with totally satisfied needs does not evolve.

6 When we read too fast or too slow, we understand nothing.

About the exact matter that all things need.

7. Our imagination so enlarges the present time, that we make eternity into nothingness, and nothingness into eternity.

On the constant and intense use of imagination in all respects.

8. We possess neither truth nor good only in part and mingled with falsehood and evil.

For Blaise Pascal there is no such thing as good and evil as a whole.both polarities form the whole.

9. It is miserable to know that we are miserable, but it is great to recognize that we are miserable.

Acknowledging weaknesses is important when it is done not only before ourselves but also before others.

10. No matter how much wealth a man possesses and no matter how much health and comfort he enjoys, he does not feel satisfied if he does not have the esteem of others.

About the affective needs of all people.

11. When one does not love too much, one does not love enough.

For Pascal, love is determined by intensity.

12. Eloquence is a painting of thought, and that is why those who, after having painted, add something else, make a picture instead of a portrait.

About the talent of eloquent people who create diverse scenarios.

13. In religions, it is necessary to be sincere; true pagans, true Jews, true Christians.

About the importance of tolerance and coexistence among diverse religious expressions.

14. For those who only wish to see, there is plenty of light; but for those who have the opposite disposition, there is always plenty of darkness.

The conditions are given for those who do everything possible for that to happen.

15. Who is unhappy not to be a king, but a dethroned king?

A phrase that brings us closer to the disillusionment of failure.

16. Morality is the science par excellence; it is the art of living well and being happy.

The importance of morality for Pascal.

17. Any religion that does not affirm that God is hidden is not true.

According to this sentence, the basis of religion will always be faith..

18. Man is naturally credulous, incredulous; timid, fearful.

Pascal was very persistent in believing in the polarities of the human being.

19. It is undoubtedly an evil to be full of defects; but it is an even greater evil to be full of them and not want to recognize them, because it is still adding that of a voluntary illusion.

To recognize the defects opens us a possibility towards a personal development.

20. He who thinks he is right among all things, does not know the reason for all things.

We will never know everything about everything.

21. Why is custom unnatural? I am afraid that nature is but a first custom, as custom is a second nature.

This sentence of Blais Pacal addresses the perspective that the custom is a group of built situations that gradually become part of oneself.

22. Chess is the gymnasium of the mind

Related to the processes involved.

23. Man is always ready to deny everything he does not understand.

It is an easier way but it leads us to mediocrity.

24. What is man within nature? Nothing with respect to infinity. Everything with respect to nothingness. An intermediate between nothingness and everything

A peculiar way of demonstrating man's position within it.

25. It is better to know something about everything than to know everything about one thing.

About the diversity of knowledge.

26. Those who possess the spirit of discernment know how much difference can mediate between two similar words, according to the places and the circumstances that accompany them.

About reflection depending on the situation or context.

27. The best books are those that those who read them believe that they could also have written them.

One of Blaise Pascal's phrases about the fascination of reading and how it can affect us.

28. Little comforts us because little afflicts us.

In this sentence Blasphemy Pascal tells us about the superficiality of our dilemmas.

29. It is easier to bear death without thinking of it, than to bear the thought of death.

On the anxiety born of the thought of death.

30. Conscience is the best moral book we have

About our own principles.

31. The queen of the world is force, and not opinion; but it is opinion that uses force.

The effect of an opinion has the power to influence some situation.

32. Reason is very weak if it does not understand that there are many things that surpass it.

Accept the limitations of the rational is necessary for it to function well.

33. Our nature is in movement. Absolute rest is death

The movement that allows growth.

34. Happiness is a wonderful commodity: the more you give, the more you have left.

Happiness is shared; it is the only way to feel it fully.

35. Misfortune discovers to the soul lights that prosperity does not perceive

Only in misfortune can we have the opportunity to shine for noble causes.

36. Being always ready to be happy, it is inevitable not to be happy sometime.

Regret makes us value happiness.

37. Nature has perfections to prove that it is the image of God and imperfections to prove that it is only an image.

About the complexity of nature.

38. Reason works slowly, and with so many views, on so many principles, that at every moment it is lulled to sleep or goes astray. Passion works in an instant

A reflection reminiscent of Daniel Kahneman's theory.

39. I know only two kinds of reasonable people: those who love god with all their Heart because they know him, and those who seek him with all their heart because they do not know him.

This phrase of Pascal speaks about the honest and deep search for knowledge.

40. Neither contradiction is an indication of falsehood, nor the lack of contradiction is an indication of truth.

On the middle points that show us an honest expression of thought.

41. What does it profit a man to gain the world if he loses his soul?

Not every gain represents a triumph.

42. We never live, but we hope to live; and if we are always disposed to be happy, it is inevitable that we shall never be happy.

A reflection on expectations.

44. The art of persuasion consists as much in that of pleasing as in that of convincing; for men are governed more by caprice than by reason

On the effect of man on the senses.

45. There are only two kinds of coherent people: those who enjoy God because they believe in him and those who suffer because they do not possess him.

In both positions the existence of God is accepted.

46. The greatness of a man is in knowing how to recognize his own littleness.

About recognizing his limitations.

47. By dint of talking about love, one falls in love. Nothing so easy. Nothing so easy. This is man's most natural passion.

To experience something you have to get close to it.

48. Know that man surpasses man infinitely

About constant evolutions.

49. Why do you kill me? And what, are you not on the other side of the water? My friend, if you were on this side, it would be unjust to kill you, and I would be a murderer. But, since you are on the other side, this is just and I am a brave man. Beautiful justice that has a river as its limit!

Another way of dealing with the problems brought about by conflicts.

50. Two excesses: to exclude reason, to admit nothing but reason.

All excesses are detrimental to us.

51. Man is full of needs; and he loves only those who can satisfy all of them.

Prioritizing what is most accessible.

52. Justice, strength. It is just that what is just be obeyed; it is necessary that what is strongest be obeyed. Justice without force is impotent; force without justice is tyrannical; justice without force meets with opposition, because there are always evildoers; force without justice is undesirable. It is therefore necessary to unite justice and force, and thus make the just strong and the strong just.

A proper way of handling both elements.

53. Justice over force is impotence; force without justice is tyranny.

About the way to handle force without the company of some courage.

54. The last thing one knows, is where to begin.

It is complicated to find our north.

55. I have written this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to write it shorter.

On the contradictory meanings of time.

56. He who doubts and does not investigate, becomes not only unhappy, but also unjust.

To find knowledge gives us a position before the diversity of situations with propriety.

57. I prefer to be wrong in believing in a god that does not exist, than to be wrong in not believing in a god that exists. Because if afterwards there is nothing, obviously I will never know it, when I sink in the eternal nothingness; but if there is something, if there is someone, I will have to give an account of my attitude of rejection.

Pascal's phrase that speaks to us about the certainty of his religious faith.

58. One of the main diseases of man is his restless curiosity to know what he cannot know.

About obsessions that do not bring us growth.

59. Curiosity is nothing more than vanity. In most cases, we only want to know something in order to talk about it.

About a banal attitude towards knowledge.

60. The heart has reasons that reason does not understand

Often those reasons have pure and honest motives. One of Blaise Pascal's most remembered phrases..

61. The egoist hates solitude

For he needs the company of someone to reaffirm his egoism.

62. Love has no age; it is always being born.

Love is always updating itself from experiences.

63. All the good maxims have already been written. It only remains to put them into practice

This sentence of Pascal invites us to put them into action.

64. One is only truly happy when one dreams of happiness.

To live for a noble dream.

65. To paint blind love is an unreason of the poets; it is necessary to take off the blindfold and to give back to it forever the joy of its eyes.

There is a love that makes us observe things with honesty and transparency.

66. Man surpasses himself infinitely because he is always on the way to infinite fulfillment.

On the process of constant growth.

67. Is haste the passion of fools?

That which leads to wrong decisions.

68. Being always ready to be happy, it is inevitable not to be happy at some time.

When we take the road to some vital stage, we can reach it at any moment.