The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know.
Blaise Pascal Pensées, Pensée 277 (1670) Translated by W. F. Trotter
Source checked by an editor
When and why it was written
- When
- From the Pensées, published in 1670.
- Why
- Pascal is describing knowledge that comes by feeling rather than argument.
What it means
Pascal, a mathematician, defends a kind of knowing that logic cannot reach. We feel some truths before we can explain them.
It is permission to take your heart seriously, and a reason to write down what it says.
Our reading of the passage cited above, not a quotation from a commentary.
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Pensées, 1670
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