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124

PASCAL'S THOUGHTS

364

Rarum est enim ut satis se quisque vereatur.[1]

Tot circa unum caput tumultuantes deos.[2]

Nihil turpius quam cognitioni assertionem præcurrere.[3] Cic.

Nec me pudet, ut istos, fateri nescire quid nesciam.[4]

Melius non incipient.[5]


365

Thought.—All the dignity of man consists in thought. Thought is therefore by its nature a wonderful and incomparable thing. It must have strange defects to be contemptible. But it has such, so that nothing is more ridiculous. How great it is in its nature! How vile it is in its defects!

But what is this thought? How foolish it is!


366

The mind of this sovereign judge of the world is not so independent that it is not liable to be disturbed by the first din about it. The noise of a cannon is not necessary to hinder its thoughts; it needs only the creaking of a weathercock or a pulley. Do not wonder if at present it does not reason well; a fly is buzzing in its ears; that is enough to render it incapable of good judgment. If you wish it to be able to reach the truth, chase away that animal which holds its reason in check and disturbs that powerful intellect which rules towns and kingdoms. Here is a comical god! O ridicolosissimo eroe![6]


367

The power of flies; they win battles, hinder our soul from acting, eat our body.

  1. ↑ "It is a rare thing for any one to fear himself enough."
  2. ↑ "So many gods brawling around one poor man."
  3. ↑ "There is nothing more unseemly than to understand before the thing has been stated."
  4. ↑ "I am not ashamed, as your friends are, to confess that I do not know what I do not know."
  5. ↑ "He will not begin better (than he can finish)."―Seneca.
  6. ↑ "O most ridiculous hero."
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