by Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662)
Translation by W. F. Trotter

Nonobstant ces misères, l'homme veut...
Language: French (Français) 
Nonobstant ces misères, l'homme veut être heureux, 
et ne veut être qu'heureux, et ne peut ne vouloir pas l'être;
mais comment s'y prendra-t-il? Il faudrait, pour bien faire, 
qu'il se rendît immortel; mais, ne le pouvant, 
il s'est avisé de s'empêcher d'y penser.

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2003-10-20
Line count: 5
Word count: 43

Language: English  after the French (Français) 
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.
Note: the line-breaks are arbitrary. This is prose.

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Research team for this page: Auditorium du Louvre , Sharon Krebs [Senior Associate Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2003-10-20
Line count: 5
Word count: 57