“ People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have themselves discovered than by those which have come into the mind of others. ”
Blaise Pascal, Pensées (1670). copy citation
| Author | Blaise Pascal |
|---|---|
| Source | Pensées |
| Topic | mind reason others self persuasion |
| Date | 1670 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by W. F. Trotter |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18269/18269-h/18269-h.htm |
Context
“Now, no one is offended at not seeing everything; but one does not like to be mistaken, and that perhaps arises from the fact that man naturally cannot see everything, and that naturally he cannot err in the side he looks at, since the perceptions of our senses are always true.
10 People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have themselves discovered than by those which have come into the mind of others. 11 All great amusements are dangerous to the Christian life; but among all those which the world has invented there is none[Pg 5] more to be feared than the theatre. It is a representation of the passions so natural and so delicate that it excites them and gives birth to them in our hearts, and, above all, to that of love, principally when it is represented as very chaste and virtuous.” source
10 People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have themselves discovered than by those which have come into the mind of others. 11 All great amusements are dangerous to the Christian life; but among all those which the world has invented there is none[Pg 5] more to be feared than the theatre. It is a representation of the passions so natural and so delicate that it excites them and gives birth to them in our hearts, and, above all, to that of love, principally when it is represented as very chaste and virtuous.” source
Meaning and analysis
