Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascalwas a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Christian philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. Pascal's earliest work was in the natural and applied sciences where he made important contributions to the study of fluids, and clarified the concepts of pressure and vacuum by generalising the work of Evangelista Torricelli. Pascal also wrote in defence of the scientific method...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth19 June 1623
CityClermont-Ferrand, France
CountryFrance
The majority is the best way, because it is visible, and has strength to make itself obeyed. Yet it is the opinion of the least able.
Concupiscence and force are the source of all our actions; concupiscence causes voluntary actions, force involuntary ones.
How shall one who is so weak in his childhood become really strong when he grows older? We only change our fancies.
Must we kill to prevent there being any wicked? This is to make both parties wicked instead of one.
When we wish to correct with advantage, and to show another that he errs, we must notice from what side he views the matter, for on that side it is usually true.
Ugly deeds are most estimable when hidden.
It is superstitious to put one's hopes in formalities, but arrogant to refuse to submit to them.
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.
Our notion of symmetry is derived form the human face. Hence, we demand symmetry horizontally and in breadth only, not vertically nor in depth.
Reverend Fathers, my letters did not usually follow each other at such close intervals, nor were they so long.... This one would not be so long had I but the leisure to make it shorter.
The best defense against logic is ignorance.
The sole cause of all human misery is the inability of people to sit quietly in their rooms.
The Stoics say, "Retire within yourselves; it is there you will find your rest." And that is not true. Others say, "Go out of yourselves; seek happiness in amusement." And this is not true. Illness comes. Happiness is neither without us nor within us. It is in God, both without us and within us.
Those who do not hate their own selfishness and regard themselves as more important than the rest of the world are blind because the truth lies elsewhere