La seule chose qui nous console 
de nos misères est le divertissement,
et cependant c'est la plus grande de nos misères. 
Car c'est cela qui nous empêche 
principalement de penser à nous,
et qui nous fait perdre insensiblement. 
Sans cela, nous serions dans l'ennui, 
et cet ennui nous pousserait
à chercher un moyen plus solide d'en sortir. 
Mais le divertissement nous amuse 
et nous fait arriver insensiblement à la mort.

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Text Authorship:

• by Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662), no title, appears in Pensées, first published 1670 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

[ None yet in the database ]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in English, adapted by W. F. Trotter , no title GER ; composed by Hanns Eisler.
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• GER German (Deutsch) (Heinrich F. S. Bachmair) , no title

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2003-10-20
Line count: 11
Word count: 70