Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.
Blaise PascalRead
Men are so necessarily mad, that not to be mad would amount to another form of madness.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that madness is an inherent part of human nature, and to not be mad would be an unnatural state.
Blaise Pascal's quote reflects on the complexities of human nature, proposing that madness is an integral aspect of what it means to be human. In this context, he implies that rationality without a touch of madness may not represent true human experience, as the emotional and irrational aspects are what make life rich and vivid. Thus, he prompts us to reconsider our understanding of sanity and insanity, and how they are intertwined in our existence.
Themes
MadnessHuman NatureSanityRationalityEmotion
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used to initiate a discussion about the nature of sanity and madness during a psychology class.
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
The existence of forgetting has never been proved: We only know that some things don't come to mind when we want them.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
What makes the Dead Sea dead? Because it is all the time receiving, never giving out anything. Why is it that many Christians are cold? Because they are all the time receiving, never giving out anything.
Dwight L. MoodyRead
Yet as human beings we have to accept-with humility-that the question of ultimate origins will always remain with us, no matter how deeply we understand the brain and the cosmos that it creates.
Vilayanur S. RamachandranRead
Nothing that was real ever died, only names, forms, and illusions.
Eckhart TolleRead
If you strive only to avoid the darkness or to cling to the light, you cannot live in balance. Try striving to be conscious of all that you are.
Gary ZukavRead
The soul yearns to fly home on the wings of love to the world of ideas. It longs to be freed from the chains of the body.
Jostein GaarderRead