The Art of Travel

by

Alain De Botton

Blaise Pascal Character Analysis

A 17th-century French scientist, mathematician, theologian, and philosopher whose most famous work, Pensées (“Thoughts”), Alain de Botton frequently cites throughout The Art of Travel. Most importantly, John Ruskin’s arguments for the virtues of drawing echo Pascal’s earlier belief that people often admire paintings and other representations of real objects instead of admiring the objects themselves.

Blaise Pascal Quotes in The Art of Travel

The The Art of Travel quotes below are all either spoken by Blaise Pascal or refer to Blaise Pascal. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Familiar and the Foreign Theme Icon
).
Chapter 9 Quotes

“The sole cause of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room”—Pascal, Pensées, 136.

Related Characters: Blaise Pascal (speaker), Alain de Botton , Xavier de Maistre
Page Number: 239
Explanation and Analysis:
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Blaise Pascal Quotes in The Art of Travel

The The Art of Travel quotes below are all either spoken by Blaise Pascal or refer to Blaise Pascal. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Familiar and the Foreign Theme Icon
).
Chapter 9 Quotes

“The sole cause of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room”—Pascal, Pensées, 136.

Related Characters: Blaise Pascal (speaker), Alain de Botton , Xavier de Maistre
Page Number: 239
Explanation and Analysis: