Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.
Blaise PascalRead
Man is obviously made for thinking. Therein lies all his dignity and his merit; and his whole duty is to think as he ought.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of thought and reason in defining human dignity and responsibility.
Blaise Pascal asserts that the essence of being human is our capacity for thought, which grants us dignity and merit. He suggests that it is our obligation to engage in proper thinking, implying that the quality of our thoughts directly impacts our lives and moral standing. Therefore, the pursuit of knowledge and understanding is not just a privilege, but a duty that shapes our humanity.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about the role of critical thinking in education.
Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.
If 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.
Those are weaklings who know the truth and uphold it as long as it suits their purpose, and then abandon it.
Jesus is the God whom we can approach without pride and before whom we can humble ourselves without despair.
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.
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?
Let us be moral. Let us contemplate existence.
We know that we're not supposed to be racially biased, and we don't want to think of ourselves as racially biased, so we tell ourselves a different story.
I am malicious because I am miserable
Experience having long taught me the reasonableness of mutual sacrifices of opinion among those who are to act together for any common object, and the expediency of doing what good we can; when we cannot do all we would wish.
Our books will bear witness for or against us, our books reflect who we are and who we have been, our books hold the share of pages granted to us from the Book of Life. By the books we call ours we will be judged
What we call the market is really a democratic process involving millions, and in some markets billions, of people making personal decisions that express their preferences. When you hear someone say that he doesn't trust the market, and wants to replace it with government edicts, he's really calling for a switch from a democratic process to a totalitarian one.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.