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1 " Through space the universe grasps me and swallows me up like a speck; through thought I grasp it. (Page 21) "
― Blaise Pascal , Human Happiness
2 " Man’s condition. Inconstancy, boredom, anxiety. (Page 1) "
3 " We never keep to the present. We recall the past; we anticipate the future as if were found it too slow in coming and were trying to hurry it up, or we recall the past as if to stay it's too rapid flight. We are so unwise that we wander about in times that do not belong to us, and do not think of the only one that does; so vain that we dream of times that are not and blindly flee the only one that is. The fact is the present usually hurts. We thrust it out of sight because it distresses us, and if we find it enjoyable, we are sorry to see it slip away. We try to give it the support of the future, and think how we are going to arrange things over which we have no control for a time we can never be sure of reaching. (Page 9) "
4 " If our condition were truly happy we should not need to divert ourselves from thinking about it. (12) "
5 " We almost never think of the present, and if we do think of it, it is only to see what light it throws on our plans for the future. The present is never our end. The past and present are our means, the future alone our end. Thus we never actually live, but hope to live, and since we are always planning how to be happy, it is inevitable that we should never be so. (Page 10) "
6 " It is not good to be too free. It is not good to have all one needs. (Page 11) "
7 " Thus our dignity consists in thought. It is on thought that we must depend for our recovery, not on space and time, which we could never fill. Let us then strive to think well; that is basic principle of morality. (54) "
8 " I have often said the soul cause of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in a room. (Page 32) "
9 " Diversion. Sometimes, when I set to thinking the various activities of men, the dangers and troubles which they face at Court, or in war, giving rise to so many quarrels and passions, daring and often wicked enterprises and so on, I have often said the soul cause of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in a room. A man wealthy enough for life’s needs would never leave home to go to sea or besiege some fortress if he knew how to stay at home and enjoy it. (Page 32) "
10 " Let us then strive to think well; that is basic principle of morality. (54) "
11 " Be comforted; it is not from yourself that you must expect it, but on the contrary you must expect it by expecting nothing from yourself. (Page 55) "
12 " Man’s greatness come from knowing he wretched: a tree does not know it is wretched. (21) "
