Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.
Blaise PascalRead
Human beings must be known to be loved; but Divine beings must be loved to be known.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Human love requires knowledge of the person, while divine love is based on faith.
This quote by Blaise Pascal emphasizes the difference in how humans and divine entities are approached in relationships. To love another human, we need to understand them, their thoughts, and their experiences; however, in the case of divine beings, love and connection come from faith and belief rather than personal understanding or evidence.
Themes
LoveHumansDivineFaithRelationship
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the nature of faith and relationships.
More from Blaise Pascal
All quotes βIf we submit everything to reason our religion will be left with nothing mysterious or supernatural. If we offend the principles of reason our religion will be absurd and ridiculous . . . There are two equally dangerous extremes: to exclude reason, to admit nothing but reason.
Blaise PascalRead
Those are weaklings who know the truth and uphold it as long as it suits their purpose, and then abandon it.
Blaise PascalRead
Jesus is the God whom we can approach without pride and before whom we can humble ourselves without despair.
Blaise PascalRead
If he exalts himself, I humble him. If he humbles himself, I exalt him. And I go on contradicting him Until he understands That he is a monster that passes all understanding.
Blaise PascalRead
What use is it to us to hear it said of a man that he has thrown off the yoke that he does not believe there is a God to watch over his actions, that he reckons himself the sole master of his behavior, and that he does not intend to give an account of it to anyone but himself?
Blaise PascalRead
Similar quotes
There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says 'Morning, boys. How's the water?' And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes 'What the hell is water?'
David Foster WallaceRead
For it would have been better that man should have been born dumb, nay, void of all reason, rather than that he should employ the gifts of Providence to the destruction of his neighbor.
QuintilianRead
Heaven walks among us ordinarily muffled in such triple or tenfold disguises that the wisest are deceived and no one suspects the days to be gods.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
It [the scarlet letter] had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself.
Nathaniel HawthorneRead
An independent state does not pay too dear a price for its independence in accepting the sufferings of war when it cannot avoid them; a state which has lost its independence may find at least some compensation in the fact that its protector procures for it peace with its neighbours.
Theodor MommsenRead
There are things that tend to moderate with age. Schizophrenia is somewhat like that.
John Forbes NashRead