“ To bid a man live quietly is to bid him live happily. ”
Blaise Pascal, Pensées (1670). copy citation
| Author | Blaise Pascal |
|---|---|
| Source | Pensées |
| Topic | living |
| Date | 1670 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by W. F. Trotter |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18269/18269-h/18269-h.htm |
Context
“The hare in itself would not screen us from the sight of death and calamities; but the chase which turns away our attention from these, does screen us.
The advice given to Pyrrhus to take the rest which he was about to seek with so much labour, was full of difficulties. [69]
[To bid a man live quietly is to bid him live happily. It is to advise him to be in a state perfectly happy, in which he can think at leisure without finding therein a cause of distress. This is to misunderstand nature.
As men who naturally understand their own condition avoid nothing so much as rest, so there is nothing they leave undone in seeking turmoil.”
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