We run carelessly to the precipice, after we have put something before us to prevent us from seeing it.
W. H. Auden and L. Kronenberger (eds.) The Viking Book of Aphorisms, New York: Viking Press, 1966.
Loci: Convergence
Mathematical Quotations
Our library of quotations is organized alphabetically by surname of the author.
Pascal, Blaise (1623-1662)
Reason is the slow and tortuous method by which those who do not know the truth discover it. The heart has its own reason which reason does not know.
Pascal, Blaise (1623-1662)
The excitement that a gambler feels when making a bet is equal to the amount he might win times the probability of winning it.
Pascal, Blaise (1623-1662)
Let no one say that I have said nothing new .... [T]he arrangement of the subject is new. When we play tennis, we both play with the same ball, but one of us places it better.
Pascal, Blaise (1623-1662)
Reason's last step is the recognition that there are an infinite number of things which are beyond it.
Pascal, Blaise (1623-1662)
Through space the universe grasps me and swallows me up like a speck; through thought I grasp it.
Pascal, Blaise (1623-1662)
The sole cause of man's unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.
Pascal, Blaise (1623-1662)
We are so presumptuous that we should like to be known all over the world, even by people who will only come when we are no more. Such is our vanity that the good opinion of half a dozen of the people around us gives us pleasure and satisfaction.
Pascal, Blaise (1623-1662)
It is not certain that everything is uncertain.
Pascal, Blaise (1623-1662)
Men despise religion; they hate it, and they fear it is true.
Pascal, Blaise (1623-1662)
Religion is so great a thing that it is right that those who will not take the trouble to seek it if it be obscure, should be deprived of it.