When it is said that heat is only the motion of certain molecules, and light the conatus recedendi [attempts… — Blaise Pascal
When it is said that heat is only the motion of certain molecules, and light the conatus recedendi [attempts to recede] which we feel, it astonishes us. ...The sensation from the fire, the warmth which affects us in a manner wholly different from touch, the reception of sound and light, all this appears to us mysterious, and yet it is material like the blow of a stone.
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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.
The eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me.
Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.
