Blaise Pascal

Through space the universe grasps me and swallows me up like a speck; through thought I grasp it.

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

Reason is the slow and tortuous method by which these who do not know the truth discover it. The heart has its own reason which reason does not know.

Those who are accustomed to judge by feeling do not understand the process of reasoning, because they want to comprehend at a glance and are not used to seeking for first principles. Those, on the other hand, who are accustomed to reason from first principles do not understand matters of feeling at all, because they look for first principles and are unable to comprehend at a glance.

Men despise religion; they hate it, and they fear it is true.

Look somewhere else for someone who can follow you in your researches about numbers. For my part, I confess that they are far beyond me, and I am competent only to admire them.

Perfect clarity would profit the intellect but damage the will.

People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have themselves discovered than by those which have come into the mind of others.

The more I see of men, the better I like my dog.

Men blaspheme what they do not know.