"One-half of the ills of life come..." - Quote 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.
More by Blaise Pascal
“Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.”
“There are two excesses: to exclude reason, to admit nothing but reason. The supreme achievement of reason is to realise that there is a limit to reason. Reason's last step is the recognition that there are an infinite number of things which are beyond it. It is merely feeble if it does not go as far as to realise that.”
“This is what I see, and what troubles me. I look on all sides, and everywhere I see nothing but obscurity. Nature offers me nothing that is not a matter of doubt and disquiet.”
More on Thought
“How insupportable would be the days, if the night with its dews and darkness did not come to restore the drooping world. As the shades begin to gather around us, our primeval instincts are aroused, and we steal forth from our lairs, like the inhabitants of the jungle, in search of those silent and brooding thoughts which are the natural prey of the intellect.”
“She says it has nothing to do with what you look like, or what you have. It has only to do with what you think of and what you do.”
“Where prejudice exists it always discolors our thoughts.”
More on Consequences
“If there is violence, it will certainly be crushed because violence can only end in a disgraceful rout.”
“Thyself shall see the act; For, as thou urgest justice, be assured Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desir'st.”
“We know that to wage a nuclear war today, for example, would be a form of suicide; or that to pollute the air or the oceans in order to achieve some short-term benefit would be to destroy the very basis for our survival.”