The Provincial Letters (tr. Thomas M'Crie, 1856)

The book opens with

Ridicule is in some cases an appropriate and just way to reclaim people from their errors

Their wordsThus you see, fathers, that ridicule is, in some cases, a very appropriate means of reclaiming men from their errors, and that it is accordingly an act of justice, because, as Jeremiah says, “the actions of those that err are worthy of derision, because of their vanity—vana sunt et risu digna.”

Read the book on gutenberg.org ↗

5 korrents from this book ↓

Blaise Pascal did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this book, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The book prints chapter headings its extracted text does not preserve, so the claims below are in the book's order but not grouped. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
Ridicule is in some cases an appropriate and just way to reclaim people from their errors

Their wordsThus you see, fathers, that ridicule is, in some cases, a very appropriate means of reclaiming men from their errors, and that it is accordingly an act of justice, because, as Jeremiah says, “the actions of those that err are worthy of derision, because of their vanity—vana sunt et risu digna.”
Our reading
Violence cannot weaken truth, and truth cannot stop violence; each only strengthens or provokes the other

Their wordsIt is a strange and tedious war, when violence attempts to vanquish truth. All the efforts of violence cannot weaken truth, and only serve to give it fresh vigor. All the lights of truth cannot arrest violence, and only serve to exasperate it.
Our reading
Rulers may not take life as freely as God, because though they are God's ministers they are only men

Their wordsEarthly potentates, however, are not at liberty to act in this manner; for, though the ministers of God, still they are but men, and not gods.
Our reading
Disbelieving a church ruling on a matter of fact is not heresy, though it may be presumptuous, because on facts that authority is not infallible

Their wordsAnd from hence it follows, that while it is heresy to resist the decisions of the faith, because this amounts to an opposing of our own spirit to the Spirit of God, it is no heresy, though it may be an act of presumption, to disbelieve certain particular facts, because this is no more than opposing reason—it may be enlightened reason—to an authority which is great indeed, but in this matter not infallible.
Our reading
Facts are judged by the senses, natural things by reason, and revealed things by faith

Their wordsIn what way, then, are we to learn the truth of facts? It must be by the eyes, father, which are the legitimate judges of such matters, as reason is the proper judge of things natural and intelligible, and faith of things supernatural and revealed.

Keep reading

The other pieces are the ones whose claims are worded most like this one's. That measures language, not agreement: they may argue the opposite.