So wretched is man that he would weary even without any cause for weariness from the peculiar state of his disposition; and so frivolous is he that, though full of a thousand causes for weariness, the least thing, such as playing billiards or hitting a ball, is sufficient to amuse him.
ATTRIBUTION:
Blaise Pascal (1623–1662), French scientist, philosopher. repr. Encyclopedia Britannica, Chicago (1952). Pensées, no. 139 (1670), trans. J.M. Dent & Sons, London (1931).
