Great Ideas Human Happiness

by Blaise Pascal

Created by the seventeenth-century philosopher and mathematician Pascal, the essays contained in Human Happiness are a curiously optimistic look at whether humans can ever find satisfaction and real joy in life – or whether a belief in God is a wise gamble at best. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves – and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives – and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Classics, French Literature, Religion, 17th Century, Renaissance

106 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1669

About the author

Early work of Blaise Pascal of France included the invention of the adding machine and syringe and the co-development with Pierre de Fermat of the mathematical theory of probability; later, he, a Jansenist, wrote on philosophy and theology, notably as collected in the posthumous Pensées (1670).

This contemporary of René Descartes attained ten years of age in 1633, when people forced Galileo Galilei to recant his belief that Earth circled the Sun. He lived in Paris at the same time, when Thomas Hobbes in 1640 published his famous Leviathan (1651). Together, Pascal created the calculus.

A near-fatal carriage accident in November 1654 persuaded him to turn his intellect finally toward religion. The story goes that on the proverbial dark and stormy night, while Pascal rode in a carriage across a bridge in a suburb of Paris, a fright caused the horses to bolt, sending them over the edge. The carriage, bearing Pascal, survived. Pascal took the incident as a sign and devoted. At this time, he began a series, called the Provincial Letters , against the Jesuits in 1657.

Pascal perhaps most famously wagered not as clearly in his language as this summary: "If Jesus does not exist, the non Christian loses little by believing in him and gains little by not believing. If Jesus does exist, the non Christian gains eternal life by believing and loses an infinite good by not believing.”

Sick throughout life, Pascal died in Paris from a combination of tuberculosis and stomach cancer at 39 years of age. At the last, he confessed Catholicism.

Reviews

[Sadra Kharrazi · Rating 3 out of 5]

هر کس که نمی‌تواند پوچی و بیهودگی جهان را ببیند، خود انسان بسیار عبثی است...

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many great quotes in this book. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about what happiness is and what stops us from being happy.

Second time reading:

Definitely has a lot more to offer than just simply finding happiness. This book points out our flaws, the problems we face in our lives, and how we can deal with them in order to make sure we are living good lives. Seriously. Such a great book.

[Danny Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blaise Pascal formulates one of the most elegant, creative, and significant arguments for the existence of a divine being and for the meaning of happiness as a gift. A contemporary of Voltaire, Pascal is a severely underrated voice in religious literature and a must read for anyone struggling to understand God.

[Britta · Rating 1 out of 5]

i don't even know what to rate this. It was seriously unenjoyable...one of the VERY few books I've ever quit half-way through. I feel like this book needs to be read in a scholastic environment with a professor to guide you through. It would have been a better read if I'd had a better context to put it in within a class or something, rather than just reading it on my own. I also disagree with many of the points he makes about the existence of god, but that doesn't make it a bad book, just because we have differing opinions. His reasoning on why he believes what he does though seems ignorant and incomplete to me, which is perhaps why I would have liked a professor to lead me through.

[Andrea Renfrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found Blaise Pascal intriguing and Penguin Books worthy of praise. My Official Review of this book and this edition here: http://anakalianwhims.wordpress.com/2...

[Karl Hallbjörnsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

a really thoughtful read. included the famous wager. would recommend. some objections to the popular scientism, written by a man who only lived to be 39 years old

[Hope Helms · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn’t know what to expect when picking up this book for club. It reads like a series of proverbs or short essays. I found the sections on spiritual indifference and skeptics most fascinating and helpful.

[Emelie · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘’We never keep to the present. We recall the past; we anticipate the future as if we found it too slow in coming and were trying to hurry it up, or we recall the past as if to stay its too rapid flight. We are so unwise that we wander about in times that do not belong to us, and do not think of the only one that does; so vain that we dream of times that are not and blindly flee the only one that is. The fact is that the present usually hurts. We thrust it out of sight because it distresses us, and if we find it enjoyable, we are sorry to see it slip away. We try to give it the support of the future, and think how we are going to arrange things over which we have no control for a time we can never be sure of reaching (...).’’

Kan människan överhuvudtaget uppnå sann lycka? Vad betyder det ens att vara lycklig? Och stoppar vi oss själva från att på riktigt omfamna lyckan? Pascal undersöker människans natur och varför hon kan tänkas agera som hon gör. Han belyser de problem och brister som kan tänkas vara hinder för att vi ska kunna nå vår fulla potential. Han menar på att vi egentligen vet extremt lite om oss själva, och hur vi fungerar. Och hur viktigt det då är att vi reflekterar över hur tankar och känslor uppenbarar sig - och varför. Det är genom reflektion som medvetenhet och förståelse uppstår. Den synliga världen är egentligen en extremt liten del av alltet, det mesta pågår liksom inom oss. Lyckligast blir man när ett inre lugn är uppnått. När det inre livet är en fullkomligt trygg plats, där ambivalenta tankar och yttre omständigheter inte längre kan bita tag i en. Mmm, mycket fin liten bok

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was shocking to read this selection from Pensees and know that Pascal is speaking from the mid-1600's. His observations about human nature are so timeless, it seems he could have predicted our state of affairs in the early 21st century. Bias squeezes in when discussing the "pitiful state" of the atheists, but setting that particular agenda in a box, what remains are elegant, crisp flashes of insight into what drives us as humans, and theories about our natural tactics for finding peace at the end of the day.

[Steve Mitchell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do not intend to accept Pascal's wager; instead I shall remain an atheist, and a happy and contented one at that.

[Linda Karlsson]

Obviously a very deep small book. Interesting though how the human condition changes so little.

[Simay · Rating 3 out of 5]

İnsanın evde tek başına sessizce oturarak gerçek mutluluğa ulaşabileceğini iddia ediyor Pascal. Bu açıdan hiç düşünmemiştim; ama tüm hırslarımızdan, heveslerimizden ve açlığımızdan uzaklaşırsak ancak o hiç ulaşamadığımız doyum noktasına ulaşabiliriz gibi geliyor bana da. Küçük şeylerle mutlu olmak değil bahsedilen, daha fazlasını istemeyi bırakmak daha çok. Kral olsam ne kadar mutlu olurdum, diye hayal kurup kendimizi mutsuzluğa iteriz. Sonra kral olduğumuzda da başka dertler buluruz kendimize. O ülke benim olsun, bu savaşı kazanayım, vs. İnsan hiçbir zaman doyuma ulaşamaz diyor bu yüzden. Tanrıya "Ya varsa?" diyerek inanan bir filozof Pascal ve bu kitabında da mutluluktan, aslında şükür ve doyum diyebiliriz mutluluk yerine, "Ya varsa?" diye bahsediyor. Sonlara doğru oraya giden yolun tanrı inancından geçtiğini çok fazla vurgulasa da, kitabı genel olarak beğendim. Din ve tanrı zorlamasından dolayı iki yıldızımı da kırdım tabii.

[Louis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pascal is brilliant at exposing and explaining the contradictions and difficulties of the human condition. When he writes about god and religion though, he is very hit and miss.

[Kaitlyn Ries · Rating 3 out of 5]

Man's greatness come from knowing he wretched: a tree does not know it is wretched.

[Juan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Habla sobre la naturaleza humana, sobre la virtud y el vicio, sobre la felicidad... Y habla tanto sobre dios y está tan convencido de resolver los misterios de la cristiandad en un párrafo de cinco líneas que a veces se hace difícil de soportar - seguro que sus teoremas matemáticos, si los tiene, son más interesantes que sus juegos estadísticos que dicen probar la razón del cristianismo. Pero el formato versicular se presta para destacar citas interesantes y aplicables a las más diversas situaciones. No lo volvería a leer, pero me alegra haberlo leído.

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feel like I really need to have read this as part of a class. Most forwards to books seem useless to me and I skip past them but I actually flipped back to the front of this book three separate times expecting there to be one before I got used to it, that's how obvious it seemed to me that it needed one. Okay, I guess you can go to wikipedia for the backstory but different editions present the notes in a different order, so why not have a note about why this edition's order was chosen to be what it is?
I find it funny he criticizes Montaigne since Montaigne's Essays seem to me more like thoughts while Pensees seems to me more like "tries" if you see what I mean.

[Troy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A selection from Pascal's "Pensees" revolving around the philosopher's explanation of his "wager" on the existence of God. The writings can be a bit difficult to warm up to, probably due to the fact that the subjects can be a bit scatter-shot up until the mid-point of the book, where he writes on his "wager". From then on, the writings are fairly lucid arguments or aphorisms revolving around the existence of God. There are a few references to Montaigne; Pascal does not appear to be a fan. Montaigne's "On Solitude" is #64 in the Great Ideas; his "On Friendship" is #6.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't believe Pascal's meditation resonates quite as powerfully in the 21st century as it perhaps did in the 17th. Nevertheless, there are still some passages worth reading over again and reflecting upon. The central argument in Human Happiness is, to be blunt, that happiness and wellbeing are tied with faith and a certain perspective on life - a perspective that is almost Buddhist in the final analysis! There is a lot more going on in these pages, however; I found this book to be an overall enjoyable philosophical read.

[Ana-Maria Petre · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me want to read Pascal's Pensees. Although philosophy, it was surprisingly not a constipated or academic read, but beautiful, poetic, free-flowing thought. It gave me faith in God and in humanity as well. If you want to consider yourself an educated person, do read it, regardless of your religious beliefs.

[Iris · Rating 4 out of 5]

selections from "pensees." his points on duality are 5stars, but the christian points are based on assumptions that are magically biased and therefore not as solid.

[Jeremy Tibbetts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read. Some of the aphorisms retain their beauty with age, and some are clearly dated and have lost some level of impact. Not so sure about Pascal's wager

[Yulenka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great passages in here. Arguments pro-Christianity/pro-believing were interesting, if not a little poorly done. I liked the way it was broken up into sections, made for easier reading.

[Kristina Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny how human nature hasn't really changed in the last few hundred years. Pascal's insights are still pretty insightful.

[Michael Greer · Rating 5 out of 5]

To read Pascal is to wake up from a torpor that almost overwhelms us. I now understand the production values of the countless zombie features available for our entertainment. Wake up!

Why read Pascal? Because he provokes a discussion which we all need to participate in, one way or another. Not about better writing or more entertaining descriptions, but about our immortal souls. With a type of Kierkegaardian urgency, Pascal is calling attention to the fact that there are two types of paths for humans: those who acknowledge the possibility of an immortal destiny and those who are indifferent to such thoughts. Perhaps we can formulate the problem in these terms: do you live in such a way that your every action is weighed by the prospect of eternal salvation or eternal damnation? Some of you, I know you so well, will spend eternity cultivating your anxiety which is just another way of saying you are damned.

Now that I've established Pascal's basic position, let's look at those who are indifferent to this issue. "This negligence in a matter where they make themselves, their eternity, their all are at stake, fills me more with irritation than with pity; it astounds and appalls me; it seems quite monstrous to me." (page 73) Pascal pities, as do I, those who search this question and come up empty. But we're talking about them. We're talking about those who care little or nothing about the issue itself. And this is why: "in this life there is no great satisfaction," "all our pleasures are mere vanity," "our afflictions are infinite," "death threatens every moment of each day and with it the threat of total annihilation or a wretched eternity." Given these conditions which Pascal, lonely as he is, speaks the truth about what we are and what we must endure, the problem of our eternal soul remains the most important issue in our lives, never to be ignored.

[Selin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blaise Pascal's penseés, elegantly arranged and picked in this Penguin edition, offer so many insights into human nature, human rationality and its limits, the laughable powerlessness of the species coupled with the arrogance that derives from his intelligence, and much more. This is a book to always go back to, regardless of your intellectual interests. I cannot think of any person who can resist to take a look at himself and his default flawed nature as a human being while reading Pascal's meditations. On the other hand his few words about Jews in this edition I humbly admit that I don't understand. I suspect being Pascal a very motivated proponent of Christianity his views most likely fall outside of my intellectual realm, but still as a historical view I'd be interested to understand those few short paragraphs.

I didn't quote anything from the book because I do not have it with me physically but it's obviously a very quotable book. I remember a short sentence of Pascal was enough to write a whole essay in primary school. Such is the genius of this crazy Christian mathematician of whom I know basically nothing about.

[Pedro Fernandes · Rating 3 out of 5]

While loving some of his essays in this book somewhere mid read there was a big shift relating our human happiness to christian religious belief, most of it looked to appeal the reader to reconsider his religious belief. Most of the argument was based in the possibility of exiting a God and how we only feel fulfilled if we believe in the afterlife.
While not agreeing with that argument there are still a lot of other essays about human condition, how we relate to another and how we react to certain events, those were really interesting and there are very memorable ideas and interpretations of our behaviours.

I have often said the sole cause of man's unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room

[Sae-chan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel that the source of unhappiness of M. Pascal is that he thought too much about what other people think about him and his religion.

I am ok when he talked about anything but Christianity. I think his christianity is too rigid and too scientific. He said that religion didn't have absolute proof but he wanted so badly to prove that religion doesn't have absolute proof. He got himself to too many arguments that he lost the pleasure of practicing christianity.

He weighed the advantage and disadvantage of practicing his interpretation of the bible. I don't agree with this, you should do whatever your heart guides you to do. No weighing of the advantage and disadvantage. If you do something good, it's not because it is beneficial, it should be because you cannot do otherwise.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rather peculiar little book that reads much like a journal of a brilliant man, rather than something drawn up to be read.

While the famous wager is contained in the book, the purpose is better understood as an attempt to ask those who ignore Christ: why not at least investigate? Is it not foolish to not even take some effort in determining the accuracy of the gospel's claims when it has eternal consequences if true? If false, you have lost nothing by the investigation.

Beyond this, Pascal's insights on boredom and mankind as driven by distraction could have been written for our times exactly, as we find ourselves emersed in a world obsessed with distracting ourselves from the present.

[Ana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pascal was a brilliant man who came up with a logical pathway to convincing others that no harm can come from being a Christian so you should be one. It took a lot of gal to say that he can't prove it with science so logical arguments should do the trick. But that doesn't work well for me although his writing is pleasantly academic.

[Piet Aukeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

“What then is to become of man?
Will he be the equal of God or the beasts?

What a terrifying distance!
What then shall it be?”

—

Pascal’s Wager always seemed a bit weak: what if you’re betting on the wrong horse?

Better to increase your odds — a rational person should live as though they themselves (along with everyone else) are god.