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American exceptionalism

American exceptionalism is the claim that the United States is inherently different from other nations. Its proponents argue that the values, political system, and historical development of the U.S. are unique in human history, often with the implication that the country is both destined and entitled to play a distinct and positive role on the world stage.

A

 * A nation that should never do wrong must necessarily govern the world.
 * John Adams, Journal entry (6 August 1796)

B

 * We are different from other nations, I know professors, it drives them crazy to say American Exceptionalism - they hate that. The average length of a constitution in the history of the world is seventeen years. This year we're two hundred and thirty two years under the same constitution, so we are unique, we're the exception; not the rule.
 * David Barton, The Ben Shapiro Show Sunday Special Ep. 57

 * In 2010, 80 percent of Americans polled by Gallup said the U.S. is the "greatest country" in the world. Of the 20 wealthy "democracies," the U.S. citizens were the most proud of their nationality and most supportive of attacking other countries without the U.N.'s consent. Younger generations were less likely to share these beliefs... So what is the reality? When we look at the indices of economic, social, health and even the level of "democracy," the U.S. comes out behind other countries... According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. comes in 31st for life expectancy.The World Bank found that for equitable distribution in wealth, the U.S. ranks 147 out of 152 countries.In December 2017, the UN Special Rapporteur for Extreme Poverty in the United States found that the U.S. has highest youth poverty rate across the 36 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries....
 * American exceptionalism harms all of humanity, Longmont Times-Call Carolyn Bninski, (24 September 2018)

 * The UN Rapporteur also found that the U.S. ranks 36th in water and sanitation and has the highest incarceration rate in the world. What about education? The Programme for International Student Assessment found that U.S. students rank 38 out of 71 countries.
 * American exceptionalism harms all of humanity, Longmont Times-Call Carolyn Bninski, (24 September 2018)

C

 * We are, as Lincoln said, 'the last, best hope of earth.' We are not just one more nation, one more same entity on the world stage. We have been essential to the preservation and progress of freedom, and those who lead us in the years ahead must remind us, as Roosevelt, Kennedy, and Reagan did, of the unique role we play. Neither they nor we should ever forget that we are, in fact, exceptional.
 * Dick Cheney, Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America, Threshold Editions, New York, 2015. pp. 259

 * Powerful states have quite typically considered themselves to be exceptionally magnificent, and the United States is no exception to that.
 * Noam Chomsky, Interview with The Young Turks, October 26, 2010

 * With regard to nuclear weapons, the situation is far more dangerous than the last Doomsday Clock report. New weapons systems under development are much more effectively dangerous. The Biden administration, expanding upon Trump’s confrontational approach, has Chomsky at a loss for words to describe the danger at hand. Only recently, Biden met with NATO leaders and instructed them to plan on two wars, China and Russia. According to Chomsky: “This is beyond insanity.” Not only that, the group is carrying out provocative acts when diplomacy is really needed. This is an extraordinarily dangerous situation.
 * A World of Total Illusion and Fantasy: Noam Chomsky on the Future of the Planet, Robert Hunziker, CounterPunch (12 July 2021)

 * According to Chomsky... Twenty-five (25%) percent of Republicans believe the government is run by an elite satanic group of pedophiles. Seventy percent (70%) of Republicans believe that the election was stolen. Only fifteen percent (15%) of Republicans believe that global warming is a serious problem. Therein lies an insurmountable problem to solving the main issues that continually tick the clock ever closer to a disaster scenario that will likely be unprecedented in the annals of warfare and environmental degradation.  As a result, Chomsky says: “We’re living in a world of total illusion and fantasy.... Unless this is dealt with soon, it’ll be impossible to deal with the two major issues within the time span that we have available, which is not very long.”
 * A World of Total Illusion and Fantasy: Noam Chomsky on the Future of the Planet, Robert Hunziker, CounterPunch (12 July 2021)

 * America is great because America is good.
 * Hillary Clinton, Speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention (July 28, 2016)
 * This statement of American exceptionalism can be found in a contribution by Reverend Clarenca Reynolds to the September 6, 1922 issue of the Herald and Presbyter. The statement is sometime falsely attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville.

 * Perhaps there has been, at some point in history, some great power whose elevation was exempt from the violent exploitation of other human bodies. If there has been, I have yet to discover it. But this banality of violence can never excuse America, because ... America believes itself exceptional, the greatest and noblest nation ever to exist. ... One cannot, at once, claim to be superhuman and then plead mortal error. I propose to take our countrymen's claims of American exceptionalism seriously, which is to say I propose subjecting our country to an exceptional moral standard.
 * Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me (2015), p. 8

 * We are situated differently in this respect from any other country. All the other great powers have a comparatively homogeneous population, close kindred in race and blood and speech, and commonly little divided in religious beliefs. Our great Nation is made up of the strong and virile pioneering stock of nearly all the countries of the world. We have a variety of race and language and religious belief.
 * Calvin Coolidge, "Ways to Peace", speech at Arlington (31 May 1926)

K

 * To this day, the United States remains the only superpower capable, and at times willing, to commit real resources and make real sacrifices to build, sustain, and drive an international system committed to international law, democracy, and the promotion of human rights. Experience teaches that when the United States leads on human rights, from Nuremberg to Kosovo, other countries follow.
 * Harold Hongju Koh, "On American Exceptionalism" 55 Stan. L. Rev. 1479 (2003) quote at p. 1487

P

 * It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord's blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.
 * Vladimir Putin in A plea for caution from Russia, The New York Times, (12 September 2013)

R

 * I, in my own mind, have thought of America as a place in the divine scheme of things that was set aside as a promised land. . . . Any person with the courage, with the desire to tear up their roots, to strive for freedom, to attempt and dare to live in a strange and foreign place, was welcome here.
 * Ronald Reagan, America the Beautiful: Commencement Address, William Woods College, Fulton, Missouri, June 2, 1952

S

 * Every single empire in its official discourse has said that it is not like all the others, that its circumstances are special, that it has a mission to enlighten, civilize, bring order and democracy, and that it uses force only as a last resort. And, sadder still, there always is a chorus of willing intellectuals to say calming words about benign or altruistic empires, as if one shouldn't trust the evidence of one's eyes watching the destruction and the misery and death brought by the latest mission civilizatrice.
 * Edward Said, Orientalism (1978)

T

 * The position of the Americans is therefore quite exceptional, and it may be believed that no other democratic people will ever be placed in a similar one.
 * Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, (1840), part 2, p. 36

title: American exceptionalism


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User talk:Travb~enwikiquote

--Aphaia 21:17, 30 September 2005 (UTC)

benevolence
Wow, no one has ever called me a jingoist before:) The Monthly Review quote is cryptic because the excerpt you added doesn't imply cynicism, and you didn't include a link even though this op-ed is available online. It reminded me of an almost identical quote by Reagan that I'll add now, only that it goes into the 'supporting views' section. As for Stuart Creighton Miller, I don't think that we can include this quote the way you added it, also because it's cryptic. Who is Thorton? Are all the ellipses there yours, or they appear like that in the book? Perhaps you could expand it and thus allow the author to make is point clear with this excerpt? I saw mentioned that this book is excellent. Perhaps there're a better quotes to add from this book, in addition or instead of this one? As for the last 2 quotes you added, the 1st sounds very good, but the 2nd seems out of place here, perhap you should re-create the 'American imperialism' entry and add it there? (as you know, the text you added is still available in the history revisions, so nothing gets lost when I remove it for now). In the future, please sort the quotes you add according to the dates, follow the style of the rest of page, include an online link as the source if such a link is available, and wikify names (e.g. Monthly Review has a wikipedia article). If you have disagreements, please respond here instead of reverting, and we'll try to resolve them. iddo999 21:56, 13 October 2005 (UTC)

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

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Renamed
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license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: User talk:Travb~enwikiquote


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Charles Keeping

Charles William James Keeping (22 September 1924 – 16 May 1988) was a British illustrator, children's book author and lithographer.

Quotes

 * I couldn't do them if I didn't know horses lived behind them.
 * When asked by his wife how he could draw so many bricks (in a series of drawings of horse stables). Quoted at ''The Keeping Gallery

Quotes of others about Keeping

 * His formidable originality within the picture-book convention may not have been altogether apparent to Keeping himself, which is both a strength and a weakness: the strength that he could communicate with unrivalled emotional intensity — but possibly only with one child in twenty; the concomitant weakness is that there was not a lot he could do to broaden this minority appeal and ensure that his books remained in print over longer periods. ~ Douglas Martin in Charles Keeping: an illustrator's life (1993) he is a good auther

title: Charles Keeping


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User talk:Ken Keeping

~ Kalki 23:42, 30 September 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:Ken Keeping


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User:WAS (WQ)

Alright, I'm gonna just redirect you to my userpage on Wikipedia: WAS.

title: User:WAS (WQ)


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User talk:210.233.194.101

Deliberate vandalism can result in IP addresses being blocked from editing. ~ Kalki 06:34, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:210.233.194.101


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User talk:203.199.26.34

Hi. You edited Amitabh Bachchan to add more information. Please note that wikiquote is not an encyclopedia, and if no quotes are added, this article is likely to be deleted soon. Thanks ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 08:37, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:203.199.26.34


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User talk:WAS (WQ)

~ MosheZadka (Talk) 08:54, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:WAS (WQ)


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User talk:86.82.34.79

128.139.226.36 15:24, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:86.82.34.79


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Vanilla Sky

Vanilla Sky is a 2001 film about a wealthy playboy whose life takes a sudden turn for the bizarre, when he finds his face disfigured and was arrested for murder. But looks can be deceiving. Based on the 1997 film Abre los ojos.

 * Directed by Cameron Crowe. Written by Alejandro Amenábar and Mateo Gil (Abre Los Ojos); screenplay by Cameron Crowe.

Open Your Eyes (taglines)

David Aames

 * Isn’t that what being young is about, believing secretly that you would be the one person in the history of man that would live forever?
 * My dreams are a cruel joke. They taunt me. Even in my dreams, I'm an idiot who knows he's about to wake up to reality. If I could only avoid sleep. But I can't. I try to tell myself what to dream. I try to dream that I am flying. Something free. It never works...
 * That smile's gonna be the end of me.
 * One kiss
 * The little things... there's nothing bigger, is there?
 * Good. Because for a minute there I thought we were talking about A FUCKING MASK!!
 * I lost you when I got in that car. I'm sorry.
 * I remember. Somebody died. It was me.
 * Look at us. I'm frozen, and you're dead. And I love you.
 * Doc, once you've been driven off a bridge at 80 miles an hour, somehow you don't invite happiness in without a full body search.
 * These? These are more than headaches. These are steel plates slicing through my every thought.
 * I wanna wake up! Tech support! It's a nightmare! Tech support! Tech support!
 * I want to live a real life... I don't want to dream any longer.
 * You're not blind. You're drinking Jack Daniels, and when you drink Jack, you start in with that... Frank Sinatra, she shot me down, give me a cigarette, "King of Sad" thing.
 * A new form of me began to take shape. I planned my reemergence, like the Normandy invasion. (Sofia, Sofia...) I'll just say it - I did my homework. I read every memo. Thomas Tipp was right: People will read again.
 * You keep the relationship casual, until the absolute breaking point. And then one evening or afternoon or morning, it could be months from now. Well, you know how it works
 * I don't care if God calls, I'm very, very busy.
 * I am a pleasure delayer.

Sofía Serrano

 * I'll tell you in another life when we are both cats.
 * I think she's the saddest girl to ever hold a martini.
 * Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around.
 * But I just think good things will happen, if you are a good person with a good attitude, don't you think?
 * Holy God. This is going to change my life in a zillion different ways. I must be nuts.
 * I meant that to be your forehead.
 * Come here... I want to tell you a secret.
 * I'll find you again.

Brian Shelby

 * You can do whatever you want with your life, but one day you'll know what love truly is. It's the sour and the sweet. And I know sour, which allows me to appreciate the sweet.
 * You will never know the exquisite pain of the guy who goes home alone.
 * My own death was in front of me, and you know what happened? Your life flashed before my eyes.
 * Because I am Frank, and Frank must go. I good you bid evening.

Julie Gianni

 * Don't you know that when you sleep with someone, your body makes a promise whether you do or not!
 * What's happiness to you, David?
 * We had sex four times. Four times! I swallowed your cum, it means something!
 * Happiness to me, is being here with you!

Rebecca Dearborn

 * Its been a brilliant journey of self-awakening, now you simply have to ask yourself this... What is happiness to you David?
 * Most of us live our whole lives without having an adventure to call our own. What is any life without the pursuit of a dream?

Dialogue

 * [David is knocked fiercely over the head with frying pan. He wakes up later. He is puzzled by the presence of Julie.]
 * David: Who are you?
 * Julie: I'm Sofia.
 * David: You are not Sofia.
 * Julie: I'm Sofia.
 * David: Whatever.

 * David:: I wasn't hitting on Sofia.
 * Brian:: Oh, fine. Whatever you say. I'm crazy. I'm blind.
 * David:: You're not blind, you're drinking Jack Daniels, and when you drink Jack you start in with that, "Frank Sinatra, she shot me down, give me a cigarette, King of Sad" thing.
 * Brian:: That I do. Give me a cigarette.
 * David:: I'll find one.
 * Brian:: But wait. You're rich and women love you, and I'm from Ohio and I'm drunk. Can I tell you the truth?
 * David:: Everybody does.
 * Brian:: I dig her. And I've never said this to you before about any girl, but she could be - could be, could be, could be - the girl of my fucking dreams.
 * David:: You're not from Ohio.
 * Brian:: I know. But if she fucks up our friendship, she can go to hell. I won't allow it. We are bros.
 * David:: I feel the same way.
 * Brian:: Sure you do.

 * David: How 'bout if you help me, unless I'm horning in here.
 * Sofia: You are, but the food's good.
 * David: See, I've got this little problem. I've got a stalker.
 * Sofia: It doesn't sound life-threatening.
 * David: But I need a cover. I need for you to pretend we're having a scintillating conversation, and you are wildly entertained. I know it's tough.
 * Sofia: I'll improvise.
 * David: She's across the room and burning a hole in my back now, isn't she?
 * Sofia: Red dress, strappy shoes? Wow. She's really staring at you.
 * David: Shit.
 * Sofia: And she seems to be growing.. less happy. I think she's the saddest girl to ever hold a martini.

 * David:: Look at us. I'm frozen and you are dead. And I love you.
 * Sofia:: It's a problem.
 * David:: I lost you when I got in that car. I'm sorry. Do you remember what you told me once? "Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around"...
 * Sofia:: I'll find you again.
 * David:: I'll see you in another life... when we are both cats.

Taglines

 * Open Your Eyes
 * LoveHateDreamsLifeWorkPlayFriendshipSex
 * Looks Can Be Deceiving!
 * Forget everything you know about life, and just open your eyes…
 * This is a revolution of the mind
 * When did the dream become a nightmare?

Cast

 * Tom Cruise — David Aames
 * Penélope Cruz — Sofia Serrano
 * Cameron Diaz — Julianna "Julie" Gianni
 * Jason Lee — Brian Shelby
 * Kurt Russell — Dr. Curtis McCabe
 * Noah Taylor — Edmund Ventura
 * Timothy Spall — Thomas Tipp
 * Tilda Swinton — Rebecca Dearborn
 * Michael Shannon — Aaron

 * Shalom Harlow — Colleen
 * Oona Hart — Lynette
 * Ivana Miličević — Emma
 * Johnny Galecki — Peter Brown
 * Alicia Witt — Libby
 * Ken Leung — art editor
 * Conan O'Brien — himself
 * Tommy Lee — frozen vintage car man
 * Laura Fraser — The Future

title: Vanilla Sky


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User talk:DrBat

Thanks for your work on X-Men and Uncanny X-Men. ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 18:08, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:DrBat


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User talk:80.202.134.14

Hi.I have reverted your changes to Jerry Seinfeld. Current tradition on wikiquote is in fact to bold part, or all, of "famous" and/or "important" quotes. In the case of a comedian, it would probably be the more popular jokes and/or the punchlines of jokes. If you have a problem with a specific bolded quote/part of quote, please raise the issue on the talk page. Thanks ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 19:36, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:80.202.134.14


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User:OwenX

Please see w:User:OwenX

title: User:OwenX


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User talk:OwenX

Please leave messages on my Wikipedia Talk page. OwenX 03:10, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:OwenX


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Talk:Blaise Pascal

Translations
I've used babelfish and some guesses to translate the following:

 * Penser fait la grandeur de l'homme.
 * Translation: Thought makes the greatness of Man.
 * Puisqu'on ne peut être universel en sachant tout ce qui se peut savoir sur tout, il faut savoir peu de tout.
 * Since one cannot be universal and know everything that can be known about everything, one must know a little about everything.

Anyone who actually knows French is welcome to look over these and fix up translation issues. ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 05:45, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
 * They seem almost nice, but if I recall correctly "tout ce qui se peut savoir sur tout" means literally "everything which can be known about everything"; so precisely "by knowing everything about everything, as far as one can know" supposedly. (My French is not so excellent, but philosopher likes such wording") --Aphaia 09:33, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

Looking through my copy of Pensées in French, I can not find the quote « Il n'est pas certain que tout soit certain. » The closest that I can find is part of a larger sentence, the il at the beginning being preceded by qu'; moreover, the quotation as written there is « Il n'est pas certain que tout soit incertain » -- that is, "It is not certain that everything is uncertain." If someone could provide a reference to the quote currently on the page, it would be helpful-- it is quite possible that I have missed it. However, if none is given soon, I will change it, and the accompanying English translation, to what I've found. --Doulos

All right, I found the Pensée whence the aforementioned quotation most likely comes. I just changed the word from « certain » to « incertain » -- I felt it unnecessary to add in the rest of the quote, as it keeps the same meaning. For anyone who is interested, though, this is the pensée in its entirety: « Il se peut faire qu'il y ait de vraies démonstrations ; mais cela n'est pas certain. Ainsi, cela ne montre autre chose, sinon qu'il n'est pas certain que tout soit incertain, à la gloire du pyrrhonisme. » --Doulos

I don't have access to Pensée No. 420, but found this quote in a book called Angels, Apes & Men by Stanley Jaki, can someone please check it is correct. Thanks Pluke 20:16, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

 * If he exalt himself, I humble him; if he humble himself, I exalt him; and I always contradict him, till he understands that he is an incomprehensible monster.

Pluke: that is indeed one of Pascal's quotations. In my edition, it is Pensée #326, but there are many differences between the many editions of Pensées. The original French of this quote is: « S'il se vante, je l'abaisse, S'il s'abaisse, je le vante ; Et le contredis toujours, Jusqu'à ce qu'il comprenne Qu'il est un monstre incompréhensible. » The English translation seems rather solid; a few things are changed slightly to make it more comfortable in English, but none of these take away the meaning. Perhaps it would be wise to insert "Man" in square brackets [ ] the first time the word "he" appears, since it is implied, referring to a previous Thought in which Pascal discussed the duplicity of man. Just a thought. It's also noteworthy that Pascal did write this divided into five lines. So, it would read something like this (with each number being the beginning of a new line): 1. "If [Man] exalt himself, I humble him, 2. If he humble himself, I exalt him; 3. And [I] always contradict him, 4. Until he understands 5. That he is an incomprehensible monster." Doulos
 * Thanks Doulos, I've added it Pluke 23:52, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Quote Expansion
I was looking for my favorite Blaise Pascal quote on here, and I only found half of it.

 * The full quote as I know it: "The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of... We know the truth not only by the reason, but by the heart." - Blaise Pascal

 * The part already here in Wikiquote has only the first part: "The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of."

I personally prefer the latter half of the quote, which is why I was surprised not to see it here. But anyways, the half of the quote already here is translated from French, whereas I don't have the full French version of the quote. (I got the English translation straight from my old 'History of Psychology' textbook.) Some other editors might have the full French version. Cougroyalty 18:31, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Here is the original French: Le cœur a ses raisons, que la raison ne connaît point. On le sent en mille choses. C'est le cœur qui sent Dieu, et non la raison. Voilà ce que c'est que la foi parfaite, Dieu sensible au cœur. The Project Gutenberg translation is as follows: "The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know. We feel it in a thousand things. It is the heart which experiences God, and not the reason. This, then, is faith: God felt by the heart, not by the reason." Based on this, I will edit the Pascal page accordingly. - InvisibleSun 20:19, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

Source for Unsourced Quote
According to the Rational Wiki on "Pascal's Wager" the "If God does not exist" quote can be sourced to Pensee 233. Although the way that page presents the quote is slightly different. See

http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/Pascal%27s_Wager

Ileanadu 15:28, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

Rational Wiki says: "Pascal's "original wager was as a fairly short paragraph in Pensées... [His] original text is long-winded and written in somewhat convoluted philosophy-speak..." It's long but perhaps not too long to paste here to help in deciding what to place in the article:

 * Let us then examine this point, and say, "God is, or He is not." But to which side shall we incline? Reason can decide nothing here. There is an infinite chaos which separated us. A game is being played at the extremity of this infinite distance where heads or tails will turn up. What will you wager? According to reason, you can do neither the one thing nor the other; according to reason, you can defend neither of the propositions.

 * Do not then reprove for error those who have made a choice; for you know nothing about it. "No, but I blame them for having made, not this choice, but a choice; for again both he who chooses heads and he who chooses tails are equally at fault, they are both in the wrong. The true course is not to wager at all."

 * Yes; but you must wager. It is not optional. You are embarked. Which will you choose then? Let us see. Since you must choose, let us see which interests you least. You have two things to lose, the true and the good; and two things to stake,[Pg 67] your reason and your will, your knowledge and your happiness; and your nature has two things to shun, error and misery. Your reason is no more shocked in choosing one rather than the other, since you must of necessity choose. This is one point settled. But your happiness? Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is.—"That is very fine. Yes, I must wager; but I may perhaps wager too much."—Let us see. Since there is an equal risk of gain and of loss, if you had only to gain two lives, instead of one, you might still wager. But if there were three lives to gain, you would have to play (since you are under the necessity of playing), and you would be imprudent, when you are forced to play, not to chance your life to gain three at a game where there is an equal risk of loss and gain. But there is an eternity of life and happiness. And this being so, if there were an infinity of chances, of which one only would be for you, you would still be right in wagering one to win two, and you would act stupidly, being obliged to play, by refusing to stake one life against three at a game in which out of an infinity of chances there is one for you, if there were an infinity of an infinitely happy life to gain. But there is here an infinity of an infinitely happy life to gain, a chance of gain against a finite number of chances of loss, and what you stake is finite. It is all divided; wherever the infinite is and there is not an infinity of chances of loss against that of gain, there is no time to hesitate, you must give all. And thus, when one is forced to play, he must renounce reason to preserve his life, rather than risk it for infinite gain, as likely to happen as the loss of nothingness.

BobEnyart (talk) 16:27, 5 August 2021 (UTC)

Imported from Wikipedia
The Wikipedia article of Pensées was actually just a massive collection of quotes. I have removed it from there (as it defies [WP:ISNOT]), and am placing it here for further reference (as mentioned on talk page there). I do not have the time to go through the quotes and cross-reference them with the article at the moment, so here they all are (some, if not all, will probably be redundant with this page):

 * Peace and Passion 19:18, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

Contents of Wikipedia page "Pensées" which have been cut:
(Note: All formatting is retained - eg. references are hidden in script for some entries)
 * To clarify, this section is NOT saying that these quotes were cut because they shouldn't be listed in this Pascal quotes article. (They were cut from a WP page and copied here exactly so that folks here can decide whether to paste any of them in among the Pascal quotes.) BobEnyart (talk) 16:04, 5 August 2021 (UTC)

On the abysses
"Let man contemplate Nature entire in her full and lofty majesty; let him put far from his sight the lowly objects that surround him; let him regard that blazing light, placed like an eternal lamp to illuminate the world; let the earth appear to him but a point within the vast circuit which that star describes; and let him marvel that this immense circumference is itself but a speck from the viewpoint of the stars that move in the firmament. And if our vision is stopped there, let imagination pass beyond... All this visible world is but an imperceptible element in the great bosom of nature.  No thought can go so far... It is an infinite sphere whose center is everywhere, and whose circumference is nowhere.  This is the most perceivable feature of the almightiness of God, so that our imagination loses itself in this thought."

"The eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me."
 * Le silence éternel de ces espaces infinis m'effraie.

"He who sees himself thus will be frightened by himself, and, perceiving himself sustained... between these two abysses of infinity and nothing, will tremble... and will be more disposed to contemplate these marvels in silence than to explore them with presumption. For in the end, what is man in nature?  A nothing in respect to the infinite, everything in respect to the nothing, a halfway between nothing and all.  Infinitely far from comprehending the extremes, both the end and the beginning or principle of things are invincibly hidden in an impenetrable secret; he is equally incapable of seeing the nothing whence he has been drawn, and the infinite in which he is engulfed."*

 * * "The French language," said Sainte-Beuve, "has no finer pages than the simple and severe lines of this incomparable picture."

On reason
"The wisest reason takes as her own principles those which the imagination of man has everywhere rashly introduced."

"Nothing is so conformable to reason as to disavow reason."

"To make light of philosophy is to be a true philosopher."

On heart and head
"The heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing."
 * Le cœur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point.

On soul and body
"It is impossible that our rational part should be other than spiritual; and if any one maintain that we are simply corporeal, this would far more exclude us from the knowledge of things, there being nothing so inconceivable as to say that matter knows itself. It is impossible to imagine how it should know itself."

"What a Chimera is man! What a novelty, a monster, a chaos, a contradiction, a prodigy!  Judge of all things, an imbecile worm; depository of truth, and sewer of error and doubt; the glory and refuse of the universe.  Who shall unravel this confusion?"

''Quelle chimère est-ce donc que l'homme? quelle nouveauté, quel monstre, quel chaos, quel sujet de contradictions, quel prodige? Juge de toutes choses, imbécile ver de terre, dépositaire du vrai, cloaque d'incertitude et d'erreur, gloire et rebut de l'univers. Qui démêlera cet embrouillement?''

On Man's fallen nature
"Man is only a disguise, a liar, a hypocrite, both to himself and to others."

"How hollow is the heart of man, and how full of excrement!"

On vanity
"We would never travel on the sea if we had no hope of telling about it later... We lose our lives with joy provided people talk about it... Even philosophers wish for admirers."

Yet Man is noble
"The grandeur of man is great in that he knows himself to be miserable."

"Man is but a reed, the most feeble (thing) in nature; but he is a thinking reed.* The entire universe need not arm itself in order to crush him; a vapor, a drop of water, suffices to kill him.  But when (even if) the universe would (were to) crush him, man would (still) yet be more noble than that which kills him, because he knows that he is dying (that he dies) and the advantage (which) the universe has over him; the universe knows nothing of it (of this)."

 * * L'homme n'est qu'un roseau, le plus faible de la nature, mais c'est un roseau pensant. Il ne faut pas que l'univers entier s'arme pour l'écraser; une vapeur, une goutte d'eau suffit pour le tuer.  Mais quand l'univers l'écraserait, l'homme serait encore plus noble que ce qui le tue, parce qu'il sait qu'il meurt et l'avantage que l'univers a sur lui; l'univers n'en sait rien.

(Original text quoted from "Cours Supérieur" AMSCO School Publications, 1970.)

Regarding the Wager

 * For more information, see Pascal's Wager.

"You must wager; it is not optional... Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God exists... If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists."

"Bless yourself with holy water, have Masses said, and so on; by a simple and natural process this will make you believe, and will dull you*—will quiet your proudly critical intellect."
 * * cela vous fera croire, et vous abêtira

"Go to confession and communion; you will find it a relief and a strengthening."

On Futility
"Picture a number of men in chains, and all condemned to death; each day some are strangled in the sight of the rest; those who remain see their own condition in that of their fellows, looking at one another with sorrow and without hope, each awaiting his turn. This is the picture of the condition of man."

The mystery of God
"It is incomprehensible that God should exist, and it is incomprehensible that He should not exist; that the soul should be joined to the body, and that we should have no soul; that the world should be created, and that it should not be created, etc.; that original sin should be, and that it should not be."

"We understand nothing of the works of God unless we take it as a principle that He wishes to blind some and to enlighten others."

"This is what I see, and what troubles me. I look on all sides, and everywhere I see nothing but obscurity.  Nature offers me nothing that is not a matter of doubt and disquiet.  If I saw no signs of a divinity, I would fix myself in denial.  If I saw everywhere the marks of a Creator, I would repose peacefully in faith.  But seeing too much to deny [Him], and too little to assure me, I am in a pitiful state, and I would wish a hundred times that if a God sustains nature it would reveal Him without ambiguity."

On the Bible
In Pensees' Section X "Typography", Pascal presents an unusual proof for a "double meaning" interpretation of The Bible.

 * 642. Proof of the two Testaments at once.--To prove the two at one stroke, we need only see if the prophecies in one are fulfilled in the other. To examine the prophecies, we must understand them. For if we believe they have only one meaning, it is certain that the Messiah has not come; but if they have two meanings, it is certain that He has come in Jesus Christ.

 * The whole problem then is to know if they have two meanings.

 * That the Scripture has two meanings, which Jesus Christ and the Apostles have given, is shown by the following proofs:

 * 1. Proof by Scripture itself.
 * 2. Proof by the Rabbis. Moses Maimonides says that it has two aspects and that the prophets have prophesied Jesus Christ only.
 * 3. Proof by the Kabbala.
 * 4. Proof by the mystical interpretation which the Rabbis themselves give to Scripture.
 * 5. Proof by the principles of the Rabbis, that there are two meanings; that there are two advents of the Messiah, a glorious and an humiliating one, according to their desert; that the prophets have prophesied of the Messiah only--the Law is not eternal, but must change at the coming of the Messiah--that then they shall no more remember the Red Sea; that the Jews and the Gentiles shall be mingled.
 * 6. Proof by the key which Jesus Christ and the Apostles give us.

Pascal subsequently identifies the major problem of a "double meaning" reconciliation.

 * 648. Two errors: 1. To take everything literally. 2. To take everything spiritually.

In the fields of mathematics, computer science and information theory Pascal is widely regarded to be the "father of modern probability theory", the branch of science that underpins cryptography. Pascal's strangely disembodied conclusion to his closing argument for the "double meaning" divinity of the Bible, and his choice of the word "cipher", which was the technical word for "cryptogram" in its day, has been cited frequently in the context of "Bible codes", referring to information that is purported to be encrypted in the Torah of the Old Testament.

 * 691. If one of two persons, who are telling silly stories, uses language with a double meaning, understood in his own circle, while the other uses it with only one meaning, any one not in the secret, who hears them both talk in this manner, will pass upon them the same judgment. But, if, afterwards, in the rest of their conversation one says angelic things, and the other always dull commonplaces, he will judge that the one spoke in mysteries, and not the other; the one having sufficiently shown that he is incapable of such foolishness and capable of being mysterious; and the other that he is incapable of mystery and capable of foolishness.

 * The Old Testament is a cipher.

On atheists
"Atheism shows strength of mind, but only to a certain degree."

Source of the quote
The quote: According to Władyslaw Tatarkiewicz's "Historia filozofii" ("History of philosophy") the quote is from: Pensées, no 42 et 65, ed. Chevalier, 1954.
 * Puisqu'on ne peut être universel en sachant tout ce qui se peut savoir sur tout, il faut savoir peu de tout.
 * Since one cannot be universal by knowing everything that can be known about everything, it is necessary to know a little about everything.

Source for "In faith there is enough light..."
From "Sourced":
 * In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't.
 * Blaise Pascal, quoted in Thoughts from Earth (2004), p. 9

Any original sources? If the only or earliest known source is from 2004, then I don't think it belongs in Sourced. --Chriswaterguy 02:21, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

The original quote in French is: "Il y a assez de lumière pour ceux qui ne désirent que de voir, et assez d'obscurité pour ceux qui ont une disposition contraire." - missing is: "in faith," - the rest is there. It is from the Pascal's book: "Pensées sur la religion et sur quelques autres sujets" --B M Moritz (talk) 15:33, 16 March 2019 (UTC)

Unsourced

 * In every man's heart there is an emptiness that only God can fill with his son Jesus Christ.

 * Justice without force is powerless; force without justice is tyrannical.

 * Ne pouvant fortifier la justice, on a justifié la force.
 * Not being able to fortify justice, they justified force.

 * Ce qui fait qu'on va si loin dans l'amour, c'est que l'on ne songe pas que l'on aura besoin d'autre chose que ce que l'on aime.
 * That which makes us go so far for love is that we never think that we might have need of anything besides that which we love.
 * C'est une maladie naturelle à l'homme de croire qu'il possède la vérité.

 * It is man's natural sickness to believe that he possesses the Truth.
 * This quote is almost universally propagated in English truncating the most important part, directly. Without that it makes no sense if you think about it. He was writing about the need and methods to establish geometric proof and was generalizing. The complete and logical sentence is:
 * C'est une maladie naturelle à l'homme de croire qu'il possède la vérité directement; et de là vient qu'il est toujours disposé à nier tout ce qui lui est incompréhensible ; au lieu qu'en effet il ne connaît naturellement que le mensonge, et qu'il ne doit prendre pour véritables que les choses dont le contraire lui paraît faux.
 * Opuscule sur l'esprit de géométrie, Section I — Jbgfour (talk) 03:28, 31 May 2015 (UTC)

 * Les hommes se gouvernent plus par caprice que par raison.
 * Man governs himself more by capriciousness (impulse) than reason

 * Penser fait la grandeur de l'homme.
 * Thinking makes man great.

 * Puisqu'on ne peut être universel en sachant tout ce qui se peut savoir sur tout, il faut savoir peu de tout.
 * Since one cannot be universal by knowing everything that can be known about everything, it is necessary to know a little about everything.

 * Jurisdiction is given not for the sake of the judge, but for that of the litigant.
 * Possibly translated from Pensées, Section XIV, 879.

 * The last thing one knows in constructing a work is what to put first.
 * Translated from Pensées, Section I, 19 (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18269/18269-0.txt).

 * There are two equally dangerous extremes: to shut reason out, and to let nothing else in.
 * Variant: There are two equally dangerous extremes: to exclude reason, to admit nothing but reason.

Sitting still in a room alone
(two versions in French via Wikisource)
 * J'ai dit souvent que tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos dans une chambre.
 * J'ai souvent dit que tout le malheur des hommes vient de ne savoir pas se tenir en repos dans une chambre.

 * All the misfortunes of man derive from one single thing, which is their inability to be at ease in a room. (Oxford Dictionary of Quotations)
 * All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.

I believe this means ‘from man’s inability to meditate’ not literally to ‘sit in a quiet room alone.’

This appears in Pascal's Pensées 139.

Should: Histories, Wager, & Immortality quotes be added?
Should these quotes be added?

Referring to belief in God, "If you gain, you gain all. If you lose, you lose nothing. Wager then, without hestitation, that He exists." Pensées III, 233

Referring to the prophets and apostles of the Judeo-Christian scriptures, "I only believe histories whose witnesses are ready to be put to death." Pensées IX, 592

"The immortality of the soul is a matter which is of so great consequence to us and which touches us so profoundly that we must have lost all feeling to be indifferent about it." Pensées III, 194

BobEnyart (talk) 16:37, 5 August 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:Blaise Pascal


text:
User talk:69.208.168.135

~ MosheZadka (Talk) 06:03, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:69.208.168.135


text:
User talk:65.95.228.253

~ MosheZadka (Talk) 06:03, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

Re: Emacs
''I'm sorry, but are you on crack? You refer to my cleanup of the emacs article as a test and experiment, then say it's been reverted and tell me to leave articles alone and mess with the sandbox. Did you get high prior to doing so? Not only did you in the end not revert the article, but my contributions were positive ones which conformed to the regulations of this site. 65.95.228.253 06:34, 4 October 2005 (UTC)''

 * Hi. First of all, allow me to ask you to take a less controversial tone. The article was vandalised several times by people who thought leaving just one quote from "vi" was a good idea, and sending you the "test" message was probably a mistake. There is a reason for assume good faith, and this is it :)
 * More to the point, the article is pretty much a mess, and in no version thereof actually conformed to the regulations of the site, strictly speaking. It has quotes by people with no established notability, it does not conform to the standard theme-page formatting. To make a note of all these issues, I've added a "cleanup" notice, which will hopefully cause some improvement. Thanks ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 07:11, 4 October 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:65.95.228.253


text:
User talk:172.157.19.68

~ MosheZadka (Talk) 06:04, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:172.157.19.68


text:
User talk:NoodleMan~enwikiquote

Matt Wisniewski article
Welcome to Wikiquote. Please note that Wikiquote is a collection of quotes from notable authors and sources. Although anyone can edit articles, the requirements for the subjects are similar to what one might find in a print publication like Bartlett's. (Please review What Wikiquote is not for more information.) You can, however, list your own quotes and other information about yourself on your user page. Your Matt Wisniewski article has been nominated for deletion as a main-namespace article. If you wish to preserve the personal information it contains, I recommend that you copy it into your user page before the vote closes. Thank you for your cooperation. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 07:26, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called NoodleMan. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name NoodleMan~enwikiquote that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 23:32, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 05:53, 19 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:NoodleMan~enwikiquote


text:
Wikiquote:Votes for deletion archive/Status Quo

 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: deleted. — Jeffq 07:28, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

Status Quo
This new article's sole quote is the title of "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades", their 1996 cover of Timbuk 3's 1986 Billboard #19 pop hit. Timbuk 3's founders are Barbara and Pat McDonald, the latter of whom is credited on All-Music Guide as author. Status Quo has apparently been around a long time, but if their only notable quote is from a song they didn't even write (and which was vastly better known in its original form), I don't see what's left to include in the article. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 20:18, 17 September 2005 (UTC)
 * VOTE CLOSED. Result: deleted (2 Deletes; no dissent). ~ Jeff Q (talk) 07:28, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 20:18, 17 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete and add quote to Lyrics, properly sourced. ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 04:40, 18 September 2005 (UTC)
 * I've added the Timbuk 3 line to Lyrics as suggested. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 06:34, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.