Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed. The entire universe need not arm itself to crush him. A vapour, a drop of water, suffices to kill him. But if the universe were to crush him, man would still be more noble than that which killed him, because he knows that he dies and the advantage which the universe has over him; the universe knows nothing of this.
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The least movement is of importance to all nature. The entire ocean is affected by a pebble.
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We run carelessly to the precipice, after we have put something before us to prevent us seeing it.
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A mere trifle consoles us for a mere trifle distresses us.
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I maintain that, if everyone knew what others said about him, there would not be four friends in the world.
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Our nature consists in motion; complete rest is death.
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Faith certainly tells us what the senses do not, but not the contrary of what they see; it is above, not against them.
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It is the heart which perceives God and not the reason. That is what faith is: God perceived by the heart, not by the reason.
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It is not good to be too free. It is not good to have everything one wants.
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Men despise religion. They hate it and are afraid it may be true.
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One must know oneself. If this does not serve to discover truth, it at least serves as a rule of life and there is nothing better.
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If all men knew what others say of them, there would not be four friends in the world.
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The struggle alone pleases us, not the victory.
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Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is, but let us consider the two possibilities. If you gain, you gain all if you lose you lose nothing. Hesitate not, then, to wager that He is.
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The gospel to me is simply irresistible.
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Faith embraces many truths which seem to contradict each other.
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I have made this letter longer, because I have not had the time to make it shorter.
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There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who think they are sinners and the sinners who think they are righteous.
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It is the fight alone that pleases us, not the victory.
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Vanity of science. Knowledge of physical science will not console me for ignorance of morality in time of affliction, but knowledge of morality will always console me for ignorance of physical science.
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The eternal silence of these infinite spaces fills me with dread.
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Between us and heaven or hell there is only life, which is the frailest thing in the world.
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Earnestness is enthusiasm tempered by reason.
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Law, without force, is impotent.
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Nothing is so intolerable to man as being fully at rest, without a passion, without business, without entertainment, without care.
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If we examine our thoughts, we shall find them always occupied with the past and the future.
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Do you wish people to think well of you? Don't speak well of yourself.
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Our soul is cast into a body, where it finds number, time, dimension. Thereupon it reasons, and calls this nature necessity, and can believe nothing else.
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All of our reasoning ends in surrender to feeling.
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The charm of fame is so great that we like every object to which it is attached, even death.
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