Blaise Pascal
French mathematician and philosopher (1623 to 1662); also a physicist; author of the Provincial Letters (1656 to 1657) and the posthumously published Pensées.
Blaise Pascal did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
The line under a date shows how recently it was said: empty within a month, full after three years.
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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.
↗The Provincial Letters (tr. Thomas M'Crie, 1856)gutenberg.org 5th of 5 in this piece
- 2 months earlier
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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.
↗The Provincial Letters (tr. Thomas M'Crie, 1856)gutenberg.org 4th of 5 in this piece
- 3 months earlier
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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.
↗The Provincial Letters (tr. Thomas M'Crie, 1856)gutenberg.org 3rd of 5 in this piece
- 6 weeks earlier
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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.
↗The Provincial Letters (tr. Thomas M'Crie, 1856)gutenberg.org 2nd of 5 in this piece
- 3 weeks earlier
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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.”
↗The Provincial Letters (tr. Thomas M'Crie, 1856)gutenberg.org 1st of 5 in this piece
The line under a date fills as the words age, a quarter at a time: past a month, six months, a year, and three years. Empty means said within the last month; full, more than three years ago. It says when, not whether it still holds — a change of mind is marked on the claim itself.
Dashed means we only know the words existed by that date; they may be older.