"If man should commence by studying himself,..." - Quote by Blaise Pascal
If man should commence by studying himself, he would see how impossible it is to go further.
More by Blaise Pascal
“All our troubles come from not being able to be alone.”
“The art of subversion, of revolution, is to dislodge established customs by probing down to their origins in order to show how they lack authority and justice.”
“I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter.”
More on Self Knowledge
“The powers of the mind should be concentrated and the mind turned back upon itself; as the darkest places reveal their secrets before the penetrating rays of the sun, so will the concentrated mind penetrate its own innermost secrets.”
“Of all knowledge the wise and good seek most to know themselves.”
“And, in fine, the ancient precept, "Know thyself," and the modern precept, "Study nature," become at last one maxim.”
More on Human Nature
“Man's unconscious... contains all the patterns of life and behaviour inherited from his ancestors, so that every human child, prior to consciousness, is possessed of a potential system of adapted psychic functioning.”
“I am strongly convinced that not only too much consciousness but even any consciousness at all is a sickness.”
“From desire I plunge to its fulfilment, where I long once more for desire.”