"All who say the same things do not possess them in the same manner; and hence the incomparable author of the Art of Conversation pauses with so much care to make it understood that we must not judge of the capacity of a man by the excellence of a happy remark that we heard him make. ...let us penetrate, says he, the mind from which it proceeds... it will oftenest be seen that he will be made to disavow it on the spot, and will be drawn very far from this better thought in which he does not believe, to plunge himself into another, quite base and ridiculous."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Montaigne, Essais, liv. III, chap. viii.—Faugère
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Blaise Pascal
1623 – 1662
französischer Mathematiker, Physiker und Religionsphilosoph
112 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Blaise Pascal →
Related Quotes
"We ought not to be angry at their knowing our faults and despising us; it is but right that they should know us for w…"
"Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too; this is why a great and clear mind loves ardently and sees distinctly …"
"Perfect clarity would profit the intellect but damage the will."
"With reverence be it spoken... The only thing bad is their excuse…"
"People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attract…"
"Je n'ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n'ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte."
"Mahomet established a religion by putting his enemies to death; Jesus Christ, by commanding his followers to lay down…"
"When I consider the short duration of my life, swallowed up in the eternity before and after, the small space which I…"
"In order to enter into a real knowledge of your condition, consider it in this image: A man was cast by a tempest upo…"
"For as old age is that period of life most remote from infancy, who does not see that old age in this universal man o…"