Read this when
Pensées
Pascal, 1600s: the problem is we can't sit quietly in a room alone. You, reading this on your phone to avoid a quiet room: 👀
Who it's for
Pascal's fragments on 'diversion' diagnose, with uncanny modern relevance, the habit of filling every moment so as not to sit quietly with oneself; readers who reach for their phone at every pause often feel caught out and then understood.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Pensées is a collection of fragmentary notes by the French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal, left unfinished at his death in 1662 and published posthumously in 1670. Intended as a defence of the Christian religion, it is made up of short aphoristic fragments on human wretchedness and greatness, the limits of reason, and humanity's place in an infinite universe.
Where to find it
Public domain in the US in the W. F. Trotter translation, free on Project Gutenberg; Krailsheimer's Penguin translation is in copyright, in print and in libraries (Libby/Hoopla); audiobooks exist.
Before you start
Heads up: Sustained contemplation of death.
Age: Ages 16+
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet, “On Death”
