"There was once in man a true..." - Quote by Blaise Pascal
There was once in man a true happiness of which there now remain to him only the mark and empty trace, which he in vain tries to fill from all his surroundings, seeking from things absent the help he does not obtain in things present.
More by Blaise Pascal
“One-half of the ills of life come because men are unwilling to sit down quietly for thirty minutes to think through all the possible consequences of their acts.”
“Love has no age as it is always renewing itself.”
“The world is satisfied with words. Few appreciate the things beneath.[Fr., Le monde se paye de paroles; peu approfondissement les choses.]”
More on Happiness
“Love is the master-key that opens the gates of happiness, of hatred, of jealousy, and, most easily of all, the gate of fear.”
“A life directed chiefly toward the fulfillment of personal desires will sooner or later always lead to bitter disappointment.”
“Judge your success by the degree that you're enjoying peace, health, and love.”
More on Seeking
“There they lay, but not in the forgetfulness of the previous night. She was seeking and he was seeking, they raged and contorted their faces and bored their heads into each others bosom in the urgency of seeking something, and their embraces and their tossing limbs did not avail to make them forget, but only reminded them of what they sought”
“Instinct teaches us to look for happiness outside ourselves.”
“I was not yet in love, yet I loved to love...I sought what I might love, in love with loving.”