We are only falsehood, duplicity, contradiction; we both conceal and disguise ourselves from ourselves.
Blaise PascalOur senses will not admit anything extreme. Too much noise confuses us, too much light dazzles us, too great distance or nearness prevents vision, too great prolixity or brevity weakens an argument, too much pleasure gives pain, too much accordance annoys.
Blaise PascalIf man were happy, he would be the more so, the less he was diverted, like the saints and God.
Blaise PascalIt is natural for the mind to believe and for the will to love; so that, for want of true objects, they must attach themselves to false.
Blaise PascalSt. Augustine teaches us that there is in each man a Serpent, an Eve, and an Adam. Our senses and natural propensities are the Serpent; the excitable desire is the Eve; and reason is the Adam. Our nature tempts us perpetually; criminal desire is often excited; but sin is not completed till reason consents.
Blaise Pascal