Despite these miseries, man wishes to be happy, and only wishes to be happy, and cannot wish not to be so. But how will he set about it? To be happy he would have to make himself immortal. But, not being able to do so, it has occurred to him to prevent himself from thinking of death.
Zwei Lieder nach Worten von Pascal
Song Cycle by Hanns Eisler (1898 - 1962)
1. Despite these miseries, man wishes to be happy  [sung text checked 1 time]
Authorship:
- by W. F. Trotter , no title
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662), no title, appears in Pensées, first published 1670
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Confirmed with Blaise Pascal, Thoughts, translated by W.F. Trotter, New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1910, page 64, number 169.
Note: the line-breaks are arbitrary. This is prose.Research team for this page: Auditorium du Louvre , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]
2. The only thing which consoles us  [sung text checked 1 time]
The only thing which consoles us for our miseries is diversion, and yet this is the greatest of our miseries. For it is this which principally hinders us from reflecting upon ourselves, and which makes us insensibly ruin ourselves. Without this we should be in a state of weariness, and this weariness would spur us to seek a more solid means of escaping from it. But [diversion amuses us and leads]1 us unconsciously to death.
Authorship:
- by W. F. Trotter , no title
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662), no title, appears in Pensées, first published 1670
Go to the single-text view
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Blaise Pascal, Thoughts, translated by W.F. Trotter, New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1910, page 64, no. 171.
Note: the line-breaks are arbitrary. This is prose.1 Eisler: "diversions amuse us and lead"
Research team for this page: Auditorium du Louvre , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]