The strength of a man's virtue should not be measured by his special exertions, but by his habitual acts.

—Blaise Pascal

virtue strength habit

About Blaise Pascal

Portrait of Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal (19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic writer.

More quotations from Blaise Pascal

I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man's being unable to sit still in a room.

—Blaise Pascal

evil stillness idleness

Nature is an infinite sphere of which the center is everywhere and the circumference nowhere.

—Blaise Pascal

importance nature place

When we are in love we seem to ourselves quite different from what we were before.

—Blaise Pascal

love perception

Man is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed.

—Blaise Pascal

wonder imagination infinity conception

Since we cannot know all that there is to be known about anything, we ought to know a little about everything.

—Blaise Pascal

knowledge breadth depth

More quotations tagged with “habit”

Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit.

—W. Somerset Maugham

habit excess moderation

Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is now no smooth road into the future. But we go round, or scramble over the obstacles. We've got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.

—D. H. Lawrence

hope future tragedy habit

When a poor man knocks at your door and says, "I'm hungry," and your first thought is Why can't you get a job?, you've invaded his privacy. Why would you need to know why he can't get a job? He didn't come to discuss his inabilities or bad habits; he came to discuss his hunger. If you want to do something about it, feed him.

—Rabbi Manis Friedman

hunger privacy poverty habit job ability

I have learned that no matter how much I learn about anything, I am always at 'the threshold of ignorance,' a frontier of inner and outer awareness (and lack of it) in which some things have become second nature, some things are new and a little uncomfortable, and some things are a complete mystery.

awareness ignorance learning mystery habit comfort

My problem lies in reconciling my gross habits with my net income.

money wealth habit problems income habits

History

14 Mar 2015 Added