Blaise Pascal

The only shame is to have none

The only shame is to have none

If you want people to think well of you, do not speak well of yourself.

If you want people to think well of you, do not speak well of yourself.

A mere trifle consoles us for a mere trifle distresses us.

A mere trifle consoles us for a mere trifle distresses us.

It is in vain, 0 men, that you seek within yourselves the cure for your miseries. All your insight only read more

It is in vain, 0 men, that you seek within yourselves the cure for your miseries. All your insight only leads you to the knowledge that it is not in yourselves that you will discover the true and the good. The philosophers promised them to you, and have not been able to keep their promises... Your principal maladies are pride, which cuts you off from God, and sensuality, which binds you to the earth; and they have done nothing but foster at least one of these maladies. If they have given you God for your object, it has only been to pander to your pride; they have made you think that you were like Him and resembled Him by your nature. And those who have grasped the vanity of such a pretension have cast you down into the other abyss by making you believe that your nature was like that of the beasts of the field, and have led you to seek your good in lust, which is the lot of animals.

Those who do not hate their own selfishness and regard themselves as more important than the rest of the world read more

Those who do not hate their own selfishness and regard themselves as more important than the rest of the world are blind because the truth lies elsewhere