Page:Blaise Pascal works.djvu/58

 we have provoked, but meet again after two generations. They are still Frenchmen, but not the same.

He no longer loves the person whom he loved ten years ago. I quite believe it. She is no longer the same, nor is he. He was young, and she also; she is quite different. He would perhaps love her yet, if she were what she was then.

We view things not only from different sides, but with different eyes; we have no wish to find them alike.

Contraries.&mdash;Man is naturally credulous and incredulous, timid and rash.

Description of man: dependency, desire of independence, need.

Condition of man: inconstancy, weariness, unrest.

The weariness which is felt by us in leaving pursuits to which we are attached. A man dwells at home with pleasure; but if he sees a woman who charms him, or if he enjoys himself in play for five or six days, he is miserable if he returns to his former way of living. Nothing is more common than that.

Our nature consists in motion; complete rest is death.

Restlessness.&mdash;If a soldier, or labourer, complain of the hardship of his lot, set him to do nothing.