Blaise Pascal 1623 – 1662
Blaise Pascal was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, and Christian philosopher who made foundational contributions to projective geometry, probability theory, and hydrostatics. After a religious experience in 1654 he turned increasingly to theological and philosophical writing in defense of Jansenist Catholicism. The Provincial Letters dismantled what he took to be the moral laxity of Jesuit casuistry, while the posthumous Pensees, a collection of fragments toward an apologetic, contains his celebrated wager and a profound meditation on the misery and grandeur of the human condition.
Key facts
- Nationality
- French
- Era
- Modern
- Movements
- Early Modern, Christian
Selected quotes
-
Attributed to Blaise Pascal:
“Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed.”
-
Attributed to Blaise Pascal:
“The heart has its reasons, which reason knows nothing of.”
-
Attributed to Blaise Pascal:
“All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
-
Attributed to Blaise Pascal:
“We know the truth not only by reason but also by the heart.”
-
Attributed to Blaise Pascal:
“The eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me.”