Blaise Pascal, Pensees (c. 1662), paragraph 620; translation by W.F. Trotter (1910), p. 205

This people are not eminent solely by their antiquity, but are also singular by their duration, which has always continued from their origin till now. For, whereas the nations of Greece and of Italy, of Lacedaemon, of Athens and of Rome, and others who came long after, have long since perished, these ever remain, and in spite of the endeavors of many powerful kings who have a hundred times tried to destroy them, as their historians testify, and as it is easy to conjecture from the natural order of things during so long a space of years, they have nevertheless been preserved (and this preservation has been foretold); and extending from the earliest times to the latest, their history comprehends in its duration all our histories (which it preceded by a long time).

— Blaise Pascal on Judaism

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "This people are not eminent solely by their antiquity, but are also singular by their duration, which has always continued from their origin till now. For, whereas the nations of Greece and of Italy, of Lacedaemon, of Athens and of Rome, and others who came long after, have long since perished, these ever remain, and in spite of the endeavors of many powerful kings who have a hundred times tried to destroy them, as their historians testify, and as it is easy to conjecture from the natural order of things during so long a space of years, they have nevertheless been preserved (and this preservation has been foretold); and extending from the earliest times to the latest, their history comprehends in its duration all our histories (which it preceded by a long time)." in the context of "Blaise Pascal, Pensees (c. 1662), paragraph 620; translation by W.F. Trotter (1910), p. 205" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Judaism" (P) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Blaise Pascal

About Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal (19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) was a French mathematician, logician, physicist and theologian.