Painterly red heart-shaped stone beside a brass compass and triangular ruler on burgundy velvet.

Original artwork, not a still

Blaise Pascal

The heart has its reasons which reason knows not of.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

Pascal distinguishes the heart's reasons from the explanations available to analytical thought. Repeating reason in two senses gives the observation its force: something can matter deeply without being fully accounted for by argument. The heart is given its own kind of understanding.

Context reviewed

Share this quote