“I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man’s being unable to sit still in a room.”
- June 19, 1623 – August 19, 1662
- French
- Mathematician, Physicist, Inventor, Philosopher, Theologian
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Quote
“I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man’s being unable to sit still in a room.”
Explanation
Pascal delivers a sweeping judgment on the root of human error and suffering: our inability to embrace solitude and stillness. He suggests that much of what drives people to ambition, conflict, distraction, and even violence stems from the simple fact that we cannot bear to be alone with ourselves. Restlessness leads us outward—not toward truth or virtue—but toward diversion, vanity, and mischief, in an effort to avoid confronting the emptiness within.
This insight lies at the heart of Pascal’s reflections in Pensées, particularly his concept of divertissement (diversion). He believed that people instinctively flee from self-reflection because it forces them to face uncomfortable truths—their mortality, their limitations, and the possibility of divine judgment. By filling their lives with noise, tasks, and pleasures, they escape that moment of reckoning, but at a steep cost: misguided choices, spiritual emptiness, and moral failure.
In our contemporary context, the quote feels remarkably relevant. The modern world offers endless means of distraction—social media, entertainment, consumerism—yet often leaves people feeling anxious and unfulfilled. Pascal’s message is not to renounce activity, but to recognize that without the capacity for quiet self-examination, we lose our moral and spiritual bearings. The path to wisdom, peace, and goodness begins in silence, in learning to sit still and face oneself honestly.
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