...know how much consolation is to be obtained from a belief in God." At another time he declared : " If the existence of God and the immortality of the...the most beautiful conceptions of the human mind." In the last speech he delivered in the Convention, he eloquently cried out: "No! no! Death is not an...

...have suggested to men fictions more beneficial than all realities ; and if the existence of God, if the immortality of the soul were but dreams, they would still be the finest of all the conceptions of human intelligence." As if he foresaw that this adherence to deism...

...have suggested to men fictions more beneficial than all realities ; and if the existence of God, if the immortality of the soul were but dreams, they would still be the finest of all the conceptions of human intelligence." As if he foresaw that this adherence to deism...

...tomb? and further on: I cannot say how nature might have suggested to man more useful fictions; and if the existence of God, and the immortality of the soul were nothing but dreams, they would still be the most beautiful conceptions of man's mind. I do not need...

...understand how nature could have suggested to men fictions that are of greater use than real truths; and if the existence of God and the immortality of the soul were mere imaginary notions, they would still have to be counted among the noblest products of the human...

...another thing, Pascal is committed to denying that we can assess the truth of Christianity in this way. If the existence of God and the immortality of the soul were empirical hypotheses, they could not be proven. As Kolakowski emphasises, Pascal had a quasiPopperian...