"I would inquire of reasonable persons whether this principle: Matter is naturally wholly incapable of thought, and this other: I think, therefore I am, are in fact the same in the mind of Descartes, and in that of St. Augustine, who said the same thing twelve hundred years before. ...I am far from affirming that Descartes is not the real author of it, even if he may have learned it only in reading this distinguished saint; for I know how much difference there is between writing a word by chance without making a longer and more extended reflection on it, and perceiving in this word an admirable series of conclusions, which prove the distinction between material and spiritual natures, and making of it a firm and sustained principle of a complete metaphysical system, as Descartes has pretended to do. ...it is on this supposition that I say that this expression is as different in his writings from the saying in others who have said it by chance, as in a man full of life and strength, from a corpse."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
see St. Augustine, Civitate Dei, 1. XI, c. xxvi
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…"