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LobowolfXXX Inner circle La Famiglia 1196 Posts |
...whichever of the various religious threads you think it fits best. Came across it while looking for something else:
"It is man's natural sickness to believe that he possesses the Truth." -Blaise Pascal
"Torture doesn't work" lol
Guess they forgot to tell Bill Buckley. "...as we reason and love, we are able to hope. And hope enables us to resist those things that would enslave us." |
Woland Special user 680 Posts |
For some odd reason, Pascal's apothegms resonate very strongly with me. I also like:
Quote:
"Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre." All the unhappiness of men comes from one single thing, which is not to know how to remain at rest, in a room. Quote:
"Que le coeur de l'homme est creux et plein d'ordure." How hollow is the heart of man, and how full of filth. And this one, one of the most touching: Quote:
Il est injuste que l'on s'attache à moi, quoiqu'on le fasse avec plaisir et volonÂtairement. Je tromperais ceux à qui j'en ferai naître le désir, car je ne suis la fin de personne et n'ai pas de quoi les satisÂfaire. Ne suis-je pas prêt à mourir ? Et ainsi, l'objet de leur attachement mourra. Donc, comme je serais coupable de faire croire une fausseté, quoique je la persuaÂdasse doucement, et qu'on la crût avec plaisir, et qu'en cela on me fît plaisir, de même, je suis coupable de me faire aimer. It is unfair that someone should become attached to to me, though they do it with pleasure and voluntarily. I should deceive those in whom I give birth to desire, because I am not anyone's goal or destination and have not wherewith to satisfy them. Am I not ready to die? And so, the object of their affection will die. Thus, as I would be guilty causing belief in a falsehood, though I use the sweetest persuasion, and though it was believed in with pleasure, and that this also made me happy, all the same, I would be guilty of causing myself to be loved. And of course, there is Pascal's famous "wager" - But his own faith was not intellectual at all, not based on a calculative wager at all, but based on his own experiences during a night of fire, as recorded in a remarkable document, his "Mémorial," which he copied onto parchment and secretly sewed up into the lining of his vest. Translated: Quote:
The year of grace 1654, Not exactly a critic of the religious sentiment. |
LobowolfXXX Inner circle La Famiglia 1196 Posts |
I agree on all counts (and I wasn't being critical of the religious sentiment or suggesting that he was, either).
"Torture doesn't work" lol
Guess they forgot to tell Bill Buckley. "...as we reason and love, we are able to hope. And hope enables us to resist those things that would enslave us." |
critter Inner circle Spokane, WA 2653 Posts |
"The Fool is one who doesn't know what you have just found out."
-Will Rogers
"The fool is one who doesn't know what you have just found out."
~Will Rogers |
Steve_Mollett Inner circle Eh, so I've made 3006 Posts |
"Creationists make it sound as though a 'theory' is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night."
- Isaac Asimov "Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices." -Voltaire "We could have saved the Earth but we were too ***ed cheap." - Kurt Vonnegut "You can lead a horse to water, but a pencil must be led." - Stan Laurel
Author of: GARROTE ESCAPES
The absurd is the essential concept and the first truth. - Albert Camus |
Woland Special user 680 Posts |
Hi Lobo,
Of course you are right! Pascal's thought applies to both sides in these discussions, doesn't it? "A very palpable hit . . .!" |
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