Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed.
Blaise Pascal Pensées, Pensée 347 (1670) Translated by W. F. Trotter
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When and why it was written
- When
- From the Pensées, published in 1670.
- Why
- Pascal is weighing human weakness against human dignity.
What it means
Pascal holds both truths at once: we are fragile, and we are aware. The universe could crush us, but it would not know it was doing so.
Our dignity, he says, lies in thought, which makes thinking well a kind of responsibility.
Our reading of the passage cited above, not a quotation from a commentary.
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Pensées, 1670
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