Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.
Blaise PascalRead
Unable to make what is just strong, we have made what is strong just.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the relationship between justice and strength, suggesting that we have compromised justice to make it align with power.
Blaise Pascal's quote implies that in a world where true justice cannot achieve strength on its own, we have instead reshaped our concept of justice to fit the existing power structures. This highlights a moral dilemma where societal norms may prioritize might over fairness, thereby questioning the integrity of justice in a world influenced by power dynamics.
In practice
During a debate on social justice, you might quote Pascal to highlight how power influences our understanding of what is fair.
Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.
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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?
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Belgrade is the ugliest city in the world in the most beautiful place in the world.
Corliss wondered what happens to a book that sits unread on a library shelf for thirty years. Can a book rightfully be called a book if it never gets read? If a tree falls in a forest and gets pulped to make paper for a book that never gets read, but there's nobody there to read it, does it make a sound?
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The magistrates are the ministers for the laws, the judges their interpreters, the rest of us are servants of the law, that we all may be free.
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