All human misfortune comes from this one thing: man's being unable to sit still in a room.

Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose: que est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.

Blaise Pascal

Pensées

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More information about this quote

Topic

Boredom Stillness The human condition

Author

Blaise Pascal

Source

Pensées

Medium

Epigram

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

French

Time

1662 1660s 17th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Occupation

Philosopher Writer

From

France Europe

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Pascal, Blaise. Pensées. 1662, no. 139.

Current Citation

Pascal, Blaise. Pensées. Translated by A. J. Krailsheimer. Penguin, 1995, no. 139.

Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote by Blaise Pascal

Things are always at their best in their beginning.

Blaise Pascal

More information about this quote
Topic
Things get worse

Author

Blaise Pascal
Statement Type
Precepts and axioms
Language
French
Time
1656 1650s 17th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Pascal, Blaise [published as Louis de Montalte]. "February 25, 1656." Les Provinciales ou Les Lettres Escrites [The Provincial Letters]. 1657, letter 4.

Another quote from the 1660s

Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.

John Milton

Paradise Lost

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More information about this quote
Topic
Heaven and hell

Author

John Milton
Source
Paradise Lost
Medium
Poem
Genre
Epic poem Religious literature
Language
English
Time
1667 1660s 17th century
Era
European Renaissance
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Samuel Simmons, 1667, bk. 1, I. 263.

Current Citation

"Paradise Lost." John Milton: Major Works, edited by Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg. Oxford University Press, 2008, I. 263.

Another quote about The human condition

The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

William Shakespeare

Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies

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More information about this quote
Topic
Mortality The human condition
Speaker
Prospero

Author

William Shakespeare
Source
The Tempest Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies
Medium
Play
Genre
Comedy (play)
Language
English
Time
1623 1620s 17th century
Era
European Renaissance
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. "The Tempest." Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. London: Edward Blount and William and Isaac Jaggard, 1623, act 4, sc. 1.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "The Tempest." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 4, sc. 1.

Another quote from Age of Enlightenment

And with the guts of the last priest
Let's wring the neck of the last king.

Denis Diderot

More information about this quote
Topic
Anti-clericalism Anti-monarchism Revolution

Author

Denis Diderot
Source
Les Eleutheromanes
Medium
Poem
Genre
Philosophical literature
Language
French
Time
1772 1770s 18th century
Era
Age of Enlightenment
Authentication Score 1
Citation

Diderot, Denis. Les Eleutheromanes. 1772.

Another quote originally in French

I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom.

Simone de Beauvoir

The Blood of Others

More information about this quote
Topic
Liberation

Author

Simone de Beauvoir
Source
The Blood of Others
Medium
Novel
Statement Type
Wish
Language
French
Time
1945 1940s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

De Beauvoir, Simone. Le Sang des autres [The Blood of Others]. Gallimard, 1945, ch. 5.

Current Citation

De Beauvoir, Simone. The Blood of Others. Translated by Roger Senhouse and Yvonne Moyse. Pantheon Books, 1983, ch. 5.