Blaise Pascal Quotes

On choosing a partner logic says is wrong for you:

The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.

On feeling insignificant next to a huge decision:

Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed.

On feeling paralyzed by how small your choices seem:

The eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me.

On distracting yourself from a decision you are avoiding:

We run carelessly to the precipice, after we have put something before us to prevent us from seeing it.

On filling every hour so you never have to think:

All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.

On needing total certainty before making a leap:

The last function of reason is to recognize that there are an infinity of things which surpass it.

On talking yourself out of a goal because you pictured failure first:

Imagination decides everything.

On using a righteous cause to excuse cruelty:

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.

On having authority at work without the will to use it fairly:

Justice without force is powerless; force without justice is tyrannical.

On staying stuck replaying a past mistake:

The present is never our end. The past and the present are our means; the future alone is our end.

On taking every open-ended option instead of committing:

It is not good to be too free. It is not good to have everything one wants.

On dismissing a small choice as too minor to matter:

Cleopatra's nose: had it been shorter, the whole face of the world would have changed.

Noticing how much you avoid silence before making an important choice:

All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.

Deciding between what the spreadsheet says and what your gut says:

We know the truth not only by the reason, but also by the heart.

Rethinking your priorities after a close call reminds you life is fragile:

Between us and heaven or hell there is only life, which is the frailest thing in the world.

Wondering if a rift with a friend or sibling will ever mend:

Time heals griefs and quarrels, for we change and are no longer the same persons.

Deciding how much a good ending should matter when planning your life:

The last act is bloody, however fine the rest of the play; they throw earth over your head, and it is finished forever.

Setting a standard for yourself that is actually impossible to live up to:

Man is neither angel nor beast, and the misfortune is that he who would act the angel acts the beast.

Rushing a report out the door instead of taking time to edit it down:

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter.