Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.
Blaise PascalRead
I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man's being unable to sit still in a room.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that human restlessness leads to negative actions and behaviors.
Blaise Pascal argues that much of the evil in humanity stems from our inability to tolerate stillness and solitude. This restlessness often drives individuals to engage in negative actions, instead of embracing the peace that comes from contemplation and self-reflection.
Themes
RestlessnessEvilSolitudeContemplationHuman Nature
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used during a discussion on mental health to emphasize the importance of self-reflection.
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
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Facts mean little compared to attitudes. To contradict rumor or sentiment is as futile as arguing against a believer's faith in the Immaculate Conception. You have simply become a victim of faith, Comrade Assistant.
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They can print statistics and count the populations in hundreds of thousands, but to each man a city consists of no more than a few streets, a few houses, a few people. Remove those few and a city exists no longer except as a pain in the memory, like a pain of an amputated leg no longer there.
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In adapting to life in the melting pot of America, I discovered that the same soft power of science has a huge influence in building bridges between cultures and religions - and has the potential to do so with the Muslim world.
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All human societies go through fads in which they temporarily either adopt practices of little use or else abandon practices of considerable use.
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