“It is good to be tired and wearied by the futile search after the true good, that we may stretch out our arms to the Redeemer.”
- June 19, 1623 – August 19, 1662
- French
- Mathematician, Physicist, Inventor, Philosopher, Theologian
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Quote
“It is good to be tired and wearied by the futile search after the true good, that we may stretch out our arms to the Redeemer.”
Explanation
Pascal sees spiritual exhaustion—not as a failure, but as a necessary step toward true faith. The human pursuit of happiness through wealth, pleasure, knowledge, or ambition eventually proves futile, leaving us tired and unfulfilled. This weariness, rather than being tragic, is actually good, because it prepares the heart to recognize that no created thing can satisfy the soul’s deepest longing. In that moment of honest emptiness, we turn—perhaps for the first time—with open arms to the Redeemer.
This idea is central to Pascal’s Pensées, where he describes the human condition as one of restless longing. People constantly seek a “true good” but are frustrated at every turn, because they search for infinite fulfillment in finite things. The Redeemer—Christ—is, for Pascal, the only answer to this dilemma: not another option among many, but the destination behind all our misguided desires. Weariness reveals the truth that we are not self-sufficient, and in that recognition, grace can finally reach us.
In modern life, many experience this same spiritual fatigue through burnout, disillusionment, or the collapse of worldly hopes. Pascal’s quote speaks to that moment not as an end, but as a beginning—a place where illusions fall away and the heart is finally ready for something greater. The futility of the search is not a sign of failure—it is the necessary path to redemption, where the soul stops grasping and starts receiving.
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