QuoteProject
If they [Plato and Aristotle] wrote about politics it was as if to lay down rules for a madhouse. And if they pretended to treat it as something really important it was because they knew that the madmen they were talking to believed themselves to be kings and emperors. They humored these beliefs in order to calm down their madness with as little harm as possible.
Blaise Pascal
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote critiques the nature of politics and the delusions of those in power, suggesting that philosophers acknowledge and navigate the madness of political belief.

Blaise Pascal reflects on the futility and absurdity of politics as perceived by the likes of Plato and Aristotle. He argues that these philosophers, while acknowledging the seriousness of political matters, approached the subject with a sense of irony, recognizing that they were dealing with individuals who hold irrational beliefs about power and authority. By humorously engaging with these delusions, they aimed to mitigate the chaos inherent in political discourse, suggesting that a certain level of acknowledgment can serve to ease madness in society.

Themes

PoliticsMadnessPowerPhilosophyBeliefs

In practice

Example use cases

During a lecture on political philosophy, one might quote Pascal to illustrate the absurdity in political beliefs.

More from Blaise Pascal

Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.
Blaise PascalRead
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.
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

I am incapable of conceiving infinity, and yet I do not accept finity. I want this adventure that is the context of my life to go on without end.
Simone De BeauvoirRead
If we compare a severely defective human infant with a nonhuman animal, a dog or a pig, for example, we will often find the nonhuman to have superior capacities, both actual and potential, for rationality, self-consciousness, communication and anything else that can plausibly be considered morally significant.
Peter SingerRead
What should move us to action is human dignity: the inalienable dignity of the oppressed, but also the dignity of each of us. We lose dignity if we tolerate the intolerable.
Dominique De MenilRead
When it comes to religion, we're not two sides of the same coin, and you don't get to put your unreason up on the same shelf with my reason. Your stuff has to go over there, on the shelf with Zeus and Thor and the Kraken, with the stuff that is not evidence-based, stuff that religious people never change their mind about, no matter what happens.
Bill MaherRead
Judging yourself to be full of virtue paralyses. Judging yourself to be full of guilt also paralyses.
Paulo CoelhoRead
We talk about heaven being so far away. It is within speaking distance to those who belong there. Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people.
Dwight L. MoodyRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.