Blaise Pascal

"Each man is everything to himself, for with his death everything is dead for him. That is why each of us thinks he is everything to everyone. We must not judge nature by ourselves, but by its own standards."

"Those honor nature well, who teach that she can speak on everything."

"Nature has made all her truths independent of one another. Our art makes one dependent on the other."

"We never keep to the present. We recall the past; we anticipate the future as if we found it too slow in coming and were trying to hurry it up, or we recall the past as if to stay its too rapid flight. We are so unwise that we wander about in times that do not belong to us, and do not think of the only one that does; so vain that we dream of times that are not and blindly flee the only one that is. The fact is that the present usually hurts. We thrust it out of sight because it distresses us, and if we find it enjoyable, we are sorry to see it slip away. We try to give it the support of the future, and think how we are going to arrange things over which we have no control for a time we can never be sure of reaching. 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 it 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."

"“The last thing one discovers in composing a work is what to put first.”"

"“To ridicule philosophy is really to philosophize.”"

"“To make light of philosophy is to be a true philosopher.”"

"In each action we must look beyond the action at our past, present, and future state, and at others whom it affects, and see the relations of all those things. And then we shall be very cautious."

"It is the fight alone that pleases us, not the victory."

"There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who think they are sinners and the sinners who think they are righteous."

"All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone."

"Since we cannot know all that there is to be known about anything, we ought to know a little about everything."

"Men often take their imagination for their heart and they believe they are converted as soon as they think of being converted."

"Imagination decides everything."

"He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God's providence to lead him aright."

"Faith indeed tells what the senses do not tell, but not the contrary of what they see. It is above them and not contrary to them."

"Faith embraces many truths which seem to contradict each other."

"Faith certainly tells us what the senses do not, but not the contrary of what they see; it is above, not against them."

"Faith is different from proof; the latter is human, the former is a Gift from God."

"In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't."