"The origins of disputes between philosophers is,..." - Quote by Blaise Pascal
The origins of disputes between philosophers is, that one class of them have undertaken to raise man by displaying his greatness, and the other to debase him by showing his miseries.
More by Blaise Pascal
“Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed.”
“It's not those who write the laws that have the greatest impact on society. It's those who write the songs.”
“True eloquence makes light of eloquence, true morality makes light of morality; that is to say, the morality of the judgment, which has no rules, makes light of the morality of the intellect.... To make light of philosophy is to be a true philosopher.”
More on Philosophy
“To put it boldly, it is the attempt at a posterior reconstruction of existence by the process of conceptualization.”
“As for the tenets of the Brahmans, we are not so much concerned to know what doctrines they held, as that they were held by any. We can tolerate all philosophies.... It is the attitude of these men, more than any communication which they make, that attracts us.”
“To be nothing - is that not, after all, the most satisfactory fact in the whole world?”
More on Human Nature
“Ordinary men commonly condemn what is beyond them.”
“My idea of our civilization is that it is a shoddy, poor thing and full of cruelties, vanities, arrogances, meannesses and hypocrisies.”
“Our mind has its history, just as our body has its history. You might be just as astonished that man has an appendix, for instance. Does he know he ought to have an appendix? He is just born with it....Our unconscious mind, like our body, is a storehouse of relics and memories of the past. A study of the structure of the unconscious collective mind would reveal the same discoveries as you make in comparative anatomy. We do not need to think that there is anything mystical about it.”