Sayings of Pascal

Faith is in the heart and obliged to say not Scio [I know] but Credo [I believe].
II.41

Men despise religion, they hate it and are afraid it might be true.
II.46

The knowledge of outward things will not console me in times of affliction.
III. 57

Man's condition. Inconstancy, boredom, anxiety.
III. 58

Anyone who does not see the vanity of the world is very vain himself. And so who does not see it, apart from the young who are preoccupied with bustle, distractions, and plans for the future?

But take away their distractions and you will see them wither from boredom. Then they feel their hollowness without understanding it, because it is indeed depressing to be in a sate of unbearable sadness as soon as you are reduced to contemplating yourself, and without distraction from doing so.
III. 70

We never keep ourselves to the present moment. We look forward to the future as too slow in coming, as if to hasten its arrival, or we remember the past to hold it up as if it had happened too quickly. We are so undiscerning that we stray into times which are not our own and do not think of the only one that is truly ours, and so vain that we dream about those which no longer exist and allow the present to escape without thinking about it. This is because the present usually hurts us. We hide it from sight because it wounds us, and if it is pleasant then we are sorry to see it pass. We try to buttress it with the future, and think of arranging things which are not in our power for a time we cannot be at all sure of attaining.

Everyone should study their thoughts. They will find them all centered on the past or the future. We almost never think of the present, and if we do it is simply to shed some light on the future. The present is never our end. Past and present are our means, only the future is our end. And so we never actually live, though we hope to, and in constantly striving for happiness it is inevitable that we will never achieve it.
III. 80

We know the truth not only by means of reason but also by means of the heart. It is through the heart that we know the first principles, and reason which has no part in this knowledge vainly tries to contest them.
VII. 142

...That is why gaming and the conversation of women, war, and great offices of state are so sought after. It is not that happiness lies in such things, nor that we suppose that true beatitude comes from the money we can win at the gaming table or hunting the hare; no one would accept such things as a gift. We are not looking for this soft, peaceful existence which allows us to think about our unfortunate condition, nor the dangers of war or the burden of office, but the bustle which distracts and amuses us-The reason why we prefer the hunt to the kill.
IX. 168

Philosophers. All very well to shout out to someone who does not know himself to make his own way to God! All very well to tell it to a man who does not know himself!
X. 174

Pity the atheists who are searching. For are they not unhappy enough? Revile those who boast about it.
XIII. 188

Atheism, sign of strength of mind but only up to a certain point.
XIII. 189

There are few true Christians. Even as far as faith goes. There are many who believe, but through superstition. There are many who do not believe, but through licentiousness. There are few in between

...

I do not include those who lead a truly devout life, nor all those who believe through a feeling of the heart.
XIV. 210

There is nothing so consistent with reason as the denial of reason.
XIV. 213

The metaphysical proofs of God are so far removed from man's reasoning, and so complicated, that they have little force. When they do help some people it is only at the moment when they see the demonstration. An hour later they are afraid of having made a mistake.
XV. 222

Just as Jesus Christ remained unrecognized by his fellow men, so his truth remains hidden among ordinary thinking, with no outward difference. Just like the Eurcharist and ordinary bread.
XIX. 258

Those we see to be Christians without knowing the prophecies and the proofs are no less able judges than those who do know them. They judge with their hearts, as others judge with their minds. It is God himself who inclines them to believe, and it is this way that they are most efficaciously convinced.
XXVIII. 414

Evil is easy, it appears in countless ways: good is almost unique.
XXXIII. 454

But is it probable that probability brings certainty?
XXXIV. 496

Nothing is so intolerable for man as to be in a state of complete tranquillity, without passions, without business, without diversion, without effort. Then he feels his nothingness, his abandonment, his inadequacy, his dependence, his helplessness, his emptiness. At once from the depths of his soul arises boredom, gloom, sadness, grief, vexation, despair.
XXXIV. 515

Vanity is so anchored in the human heart that a soldier, a cadet, a cook, a kitchen porter boasts, and wants to have admirers, and even philosophers, want them, and those who write against them want the prestige of having written well, and those who read them want the prestige of having read them, and I, writing this, perhaps have this desire, and those who will read this ...
XXXIV. 520

Man is neither angel nor beast, and unhappily whoever wants to act the angel, acts the beast.
XXXV. 557

What is the self?

A man who sits at the window to watch the passers-by; can I say that he sat there to see me if I pass by? No, for he is not thinking of me in particular. But someone who loves a person because of her beauty, does he love her? No, because smallpox, which will destroy beauty without destroying the person, will ensure that he no longer loves her.

And if someone loves me for my judgement, for my memory, is it me they love? No, because I can lose these qualities without losing myself. Where is the self, then, if it is neither in the body nor in the soul?
XXXV.567

Nothing is so difficult from the world's point of view as the religious life, and nothing is easier than leading it from God's.
XXXV. 572

I take it as self-evident that, if everyone knew what was said about him, there would not be four friends in the world. This is clear from the quarrels which are occasioned by the indiscreet remarks which we sometimes make.
XXXVIII. 646

It is right that so pure a God discloses himself only to those whose hearts are purified.
XXXVIII. 646

We are not satisfied with the life we have in ourselves and in our own being: we want to lead an imaginary life in the minds of other people, and so we make an effort to impress. We constantly strive to embellish and preserve our imaginary being, and neglect the real one. And if we are calm, or generous, or loyal we are anxious to let it be known so that we can bind these virtues to our other being, and would rather detach them from our real selves to unite them with the other. We would happily be cowards if that gained us the reputation of being brave.
XXXVIII. 654

Nothing more surely underlines an extreme weakness of mind than the failure to recognize the unhappiness of someone without God.
XLVI. 681

Before examining the proofs of the Christian religion, I find I must point out how wrong men are who live their lives indifferent to the search for truthfulness of something which is so important to them, and which affects them so closely.
XLVI. 682