Being unable to cure death, wretchedness and ignorance, men have decided, in order to be happy, not to think about such things. - Blaise Pascal

Do they think that they have given us great pleasure by telling us that they hold our soul to be no more than wind or smoke, and saying it moreover in tones of pride and satisfaction? Is this then something to be said gaily? Is it not on the contrary something to be said sadly, as being the saddest thing in the world?

We must keep our thought secret, and judge everything by it, while talking like the people.

Man is neither angel nor devil, and his tragedy is that he who tries too hard to play the first too often ends up as the second.