BLAISE PASCAL (1623-1662) was a renowned 17th century philosopher and mathematician whose religious conversion led him to a life of asceticism.  His PENSÉES ("thoughts") are the name given posthumously to his fragments, which he had been preparing for an Apology for the Christian Religion but which was never completed.

Although the Pensées appears to consist of ideas and jottings, it is believed that Pascal had, prior to his death in 1662, already planned out the order of the book and had begun the task of cutting and pasting his draft notes into a coherent form.  His task incomplete, subsequent editors have disagreed on the order, if any, in which his writings should be read.

Pascal's general intention was to confound scepticism about metaphysical questions.  Some of the Pensées are fully developed literary reflections on the human condition, some contradict others, and some remain jottings whose meaning will never be clear.  The most important are among the most powerful aphorisms about human experience and behavior ever written in any language.


Three translations are included here, all in PDF format:

* PENSÉES (Dutton, 1958).  Unknown translator; Introduction by T. S. Eliot.  317 pp.

* PENSÉES (Hackett, 2005).  Edited and translated by Roger Ariew.  352 pp.

* PENSÉES & OTHER WRITINGS (Oxford World's Classics, 1995).  Edited with an Introduction by Anthony Levi, and translated by Honor Levi.  320 pp.

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