Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.
Blaise PascalRead
If he exalts himself, I humble him. If he humbles himself, I exalt him. And I go on contradicting him Until he understands That he is a monster that passes all understanding.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests a moral contradiction in human nature, emphasizing the interplay between pride and humility.
In this quote, Blaise Pascal highlights the duality of human behavior, where the act of exalting or humbling oneself leads to a deeper understanding of one's inner creature. The passage reflects on the conflict between human pride and humility, suggesting that an individual's self-perception can lead to a profound realization of their inherent flaws and complexities.
Themes
PrideHumilityUnderstandingSelf-PerceptionNature
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a motivational speech about self-awareness and personal growth.
More from Blaise Pascal
All quotes →If we submit everything to reason our religion will be left with nothing mysterious or supernatural. If we offend the principles of reason our religion will be absurd and ridiculous . . . There are two equally dangerous extremes: to exclude reason, to admit nothing but reason.
Blaise PascalRead
Those are weaklings who know the truth and uphold it as long as it suits their purpose, and then abandon it.
Blaise PascalRead
Jesus is the God whom we can approach without pride and before whom we can humble ourselves without despair.
Blaise PascalRead
What use is it to us to hear it said of a man that he has thrown off the yoke that he does not believe there is a God to watch over his actions, that he reckons himself the sole master of his behavior, and that he does not intend to give an account of it to anyone but himself?
Blaise PascalRead
It is the fight alone that pleases us, not the victory.
Blaise PascalRead
Similar quotes
Silence is ever speaking; it is the perennial flow of language.
Ramana MaharshiRead
When we try to make everything clear, we make everything confused. If, however, we admit one mysterious thing in the universe, then everything else becomes clear in the light of that. The sun is so bright, so mysterious, that one cannot look at it, and yet in the light of the sun everything else is seen.
Fulton J. SheenRead
A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes anothers.
Jean PaulRead
Human beings have neither kindness, nor faith, nor charity beyond what serves to increase the pleasure of the moment.
Virginia WoolfRead
Are not there little chapters in everybody's life, that seem to be nothing, and yet affect all the rest of the history?
William Makepeace ThackerayRead
Every nation ridicules other nations, and all are right.
Arthur SchopenhauerRead