Blaise Pascal

Life and writing

The checked catalogue identifies Blaise Pascal with lifetime years 1623–1662 and names T. S. Eliot as author of introductory material. The linked text’s front matter states that this paperback was published in 1958 by E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., and carries a rights notice. Gutenberg declares the electronic edition public domain in the United States; this profile does not independently establish worldwide rights. The catalogue does not name the English translator. Its HTML ISBN is distinct from the print SBN in the front matter.

The selected passages are in the Pensées body, not Eliot’s introduction. Fragment 347 describes a thinking reed, comparing human physical vulnerability with consciousness of that vulnerability. Fragment 69 says that reading too quickly or too slowly prevents understanding and appears beside remarks about extremes and a mean. These are philosophical and rhetorical contrasts, not a measured diagnosis of a reader’s speed. Fragment numbers here refer to this particular English edition, whose notes describe renumbering. Both complete selected English extracts match the checked text under limited normalization.

Reading this voice

Read fragment 347 with the preceding reflection on thought, and fragment 69 with its surrounding contrasts. Use the numbering of this linked edition when locating them. Keep the later introduction and publisher front matter separate from Pascal’s fragments.

Subjects to explore

Words to begin with

• Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed.
• When we read too fast or too slowly, we understand nothing.