# Quote — Blaise Pascal, Pensees

> Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed. The entire universe need not arm itself to crush him. A vapour, a drop of water suffices to kill him. But, if the universe were to crush him, man would still be more noble than that which killed him, because he knows that he dies and the advantage which the universe has over him; the universe knows nothing of this. All our dignity consists, then, in thought. By it we must elevate ourselves, and not by space and time which we cannot fill. Let us endeavour, then, to think well; this is the principle of morality.

- Author: [Blaise Pascal](https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal.md)
- Book: [Pensees](https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees.md)
- Original (fr): L'homme n'est qu'un roseau, le plus faible de la nature; mais c'est un roseau pensant. Il ne faut pas que l’univers entier s’arme pour l’écraser : une vapeur, une goutte d’eau suffit pour le tuer. Mais quand l’univers l’écraserait, l’homme serait encore plus noble que ce qui le tue, parce qu’il sait qu’il meurt, et l’avantage que l’univers a sur lui, l’univers n’en sait rien. Ainsi toute notre dignité consiste dans la pensée. C'est de là qu'il faut nous relever, non de l'espace et de la durée. Travaillons donc à bien penser. voilà le principe de la morale. (Pascal, Pensées, ed.Ch.M des Granges, Garnier, Paris, 1964, no.347 p. 162)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pens%C3%A9es#Section_VI:_The_Philosophers_(339-424)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees/man-is-but

## More from this book

> Man is only a subject full of error, natural and ineffaceable, without grace. Nothing shows him the truth. Everything deceives him. These two sources of truth, reason and the senses, besides being both wanting in sincerity, deceive each other in turn. The senses mislead the reason with false appearances, and receive from reason in their turn the same trickery which they apply to her; reason has her revenge. The passions of the soul trouble the senses, and make false impressions upon them. They rival each other in falsehood and deception.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees/man-is-only.md)

> The eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees/the-eternal-silence.md)

> Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees/men-never-do-evil.md)