SPACEDK · DAILY CLASSICS · 07:00 CST
The Daily Classics Library
At 7:00 every morning in Beijing, 500 complete sayings, verses, reflections, or stories are selected from edition- and rights-verified books, then read again in historical and contemporary context.
Verification rule: Unsourced internet quotations are excluded. Every item records its work, authorship or traditional attribution, translator, locator, source revision, and rights status. “Complete” means a self-contained saying, verse, reflection, or story—not copying an entire protected modern book.
Meditations
Meditations · Book 12, passage 22
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 201, “Meditations · Meditations · ……2, passage 22 · book-12-p-22,” can mean this: Working together means sharing help and responsibility.
Try this: Tell a trusted adult one thing you learned today.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Marcus Aurelius governed in the second century CE amid frontier wars, imperial administration, and the Antonine plague. The Meditations are private Greek exercises; the exact date and place of individual notes are often uncertain. This edition uses George Long’s 1862 translation.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 2nd century CE; 1862 English translation
- Region
- Roman Empire / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Original notes c. 170s CE; translation first published 1862
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of George Long’s translation
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
First, do nothing inconsiderately, nor without a purpose. Second, make thy acts refer to nothing else than to a social end.
Meditations
Meditations · Book 6, passage 24
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 202, “Meditations · Meditations · …… 6, passage 24 · book-6-p-24,” can mean this: Life and time are precious. Care for yourself and the people around you.
Try this: Tell a trusted adult one thing you learned today.
Important reminder: This is one reading, not a rule that is always right. Tell a trusted adult about danger, bullying, or pain.
For adults: historical and edition context
Marcus Aurelius governed in the second century CE amid frontier wars, imperial administration, and the Antonine plague. The Meditations are private Greek exercises; the exact date and place of individual notes are often uncertain. This edition uses George Long’s 1862 translation.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 2nd century CE; 1862 English translation
- Region
- Roman Empire / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Original notes c. 170s CE; translation first published 1862
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of George Long’s translation
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
Alexander the Macedonian and his groom by death were brought to the same state; for either they were received among the same seminal principles of the universe, or they were alike dispersed among the atoms.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · LXXIV. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §19
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 203, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §19,” can mean this: People who make rules should listen to questions.
Try this: After a task, check whether it truly helped someone.
Important reminder: This is one reading, not a rule that is always right. Tell a trusted adult about danger, bullying, or pain.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber VIII
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[19] Ideo adhibebitur prudentia, quae modum illis ac parsimoniam imponat, quoniam quidem licentia opes suas praecipitat atque urget, nec umquam immodica durarunt nisi illa moderatrix ratio compescuit. Hoc multarum tibi urbium ostendet eventus, quarum in ipso flore luxuriosa imperia ceciderunt, et quidquid virtute partum erat intemperantia corruit. Adversus hos casus muniendi sumus. Nullus autem contra fortunam inexpugnabilis murus est: intus instruamur; si illa pars tuta est, pulsari homo potest, capi non potest. Quod sit hoc instrumentum scire desideras?
Meditations
Meditations · Book 5, passage 28
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 204, “Meditations · Meditations · …… 5, passage 28 · book-5-p-28,” can mean this: After learning something, practise it and ask for help when needed.
Try this: Give gentle care to a person, animal, or plant today.
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Marcus Aurelius governed in the second century CE amid frontier wars, imperial administration, and the Antonine plague. The Meditations are private Greek exercises; the exact date and place of individual notes are often uncertain. This edition uses George Long’s 1862 translation.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 2nd century CE; 1862 English translation
- Region
- Roman Empire / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Original notes c. 170s CE; translation first published 1862
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of George Long’s translation
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
Art thou angry with him whose armpits stink? Art thou angry with him whose mouth smells foul? What good will this danger do thee? He has such a mouth, he has such armpits: it is necessary that such an emanation must come from such things—but the man has reason, it will be said, and he is able, if he takes pain, to discover wherein he offends—I wish thee well of thy discovery. Well then, and thou hast reason: by thy rational faculty stir up his rational faculty; show him his error, admonish him. For if he listens, thou wilt cure him, and there is no need of anger. Neither tragic actor nor whore …
Dhammapada
Dhammapada · XXIV:349
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 205, “Dhammapada · Dhammapada · XX……mapada · XXIV:349 · XXIV:349,” can mean this: Everyone meets hard choices. We can pause before acting.
Try this: Tell a trusted adult one thing you learned today.
Important reminder: This is one reading, not a rule that is always right. Tell a trusted adult about danger, bullying, or pain.
For adults: historical and edition context
The Dhammapada is an anthology of Pali Buddhist verses shaped by long transmission and compilation, so a verifiable occasion cannot be assigned to each verse. This source uses Max Müller’s 1881 translation and keeps its nineteenth-century philological vocabulary visible.
- Period
- Ancient Indian Buddhist tradition; 1881 English translation
- Region
- South Asia / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Ancient compilation of uncertain date; translation published 1881
- Edition
- Dhammapada, translated by F. Max Müller, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. X
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
If a man is tossed about by doubts, full of strong passions, and yearning only for what is delightful, his thirst will grow more and more, and he will indeed make his fetters strong.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · XXX. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §10
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 206, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §10,” can mean this: Life and time are precious. Care for yourself and the people around you.
Try this: If something is hard today, say, “Please help me.”
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber IV
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[10] Inter hos Bassum licet numeres, qui nos decipi noluit. Is ait tam stultum esse qui mortem timeat quam qui senectutem; nam quemadmodum senectus adulescentiam sequitur, ita mors senectutem. Vivere noluit qui mori non vult; vita enim cum exceptione mortis data est; ad hanc itur. Quam ideo timere dementis est quia certa exspectantur, dubia metuuntur.
Pensées
Pensées · Section I · 17
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 207, “Pensées · Pensées · Section ……17 · Section I · fragment 17,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
Try this: Observe first and guess second. Change your mind when clues change.
Important reminder: This is one reading, not a rule that is always right. Tell a trusted adult about danger, bullying, or pain.
For adults: historical and edition context
Pascal left these unfinished fragments amid seventeenth-century French scientific development, religious controversy, and illness, probably for a projected Christian apology. Modern grouping and numbering reflect Brunschvicg’s editorial decisions rather than a finished authorial order. Analysis distinguishes religious argument, mathematics, historical evidence, and personal experience.
- Period
- 17th-century France; early modern science and religious controversy
- Region
- France
- Work date
- Fragments written mainly c. 1657–1662; Brunschvicg edition published 1897–1925
- Edition
- Léon Brunschvicg edition, Section I
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
Les rivières sont des chemins qui marchent et qui portent où l’on veut aller.
Aesop’s Fables
The Peacock and the Crane
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 208, “Aesop’s Fables · The Peacock…… · the-peacock-and-the-crane,” can mean this: Nature is not a toy. Observe it, care for it, and do not harm living things.
Try this: Today, listen until another person finishes, then answer.
Important reminder: This is one reading, not a rule that is always right. Tell a trusted adult about danger, bullying, or pain.
For adults: historical and edition context
The Aesopic corpus is a long, changing fable tradition, not a set of individually verifiable utterances by one sixth-century BCE author. Each complete item here is fixed to V. S. Vernon Jones’s 1912 English edition.
- Period
- Ancient Greek tradition; 1912 English edition
- Region
- Ancient Mediterranean / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Traditional material associated with the 6th century BCE; translation published 1912
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of the 1912 V. S. Vernon Jones translation
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
A Peacock taunted a Crane with the dullness of her plumage. “Look at my brilliant colours,” said she, “and see how much finer they are than your poor feathers.” “I am not denying,” replied the Crane, “that yours are far gayer than mine; but when it comes to flying I can soar into the clouds, whereas you are confined to the earth like any dunghill cock.”
Aesop’s Fables
The Travellers and the Plane-Tree
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 209, “Aesop’s Fables · The Travell……ravellers-and-the-plane-tree,” can mean this: Nature is not a toy. Observe it, care for it, and do not harm living things.
Try this: Before choosing, count to three and ask, “Is there another way?”
Important reminder: This is one reading, not a rule that is always right. Tell a trusted adult about danger, bullying, or pain.
For adults: historical and edition context
The Aesopic corpus is a long, changing fable tradition, not a set of individually verifiable utterances by one sixth-century BCE author. Each complete item here is fixed to V. S. Vernon Jones’s 1912 English edition.
- Period
- Ancient Greek tradition; 1912 English edition
- Region
- Ancient Mediterranean / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Traditional material associated with the 6th century BCE; translation published 1912
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of the 1912 V. S. Vernon Jones translation
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
Two Travellers were walking along a bare and dusty road in the heat of a summer’s day. Coming presently to a Plane-tree, they joyfully turned aside to shelter from the burning rays of the sun in the deep shade of its spreading branches. As they rested, looking up into the tree, one of them remarked to his companion, “What a useless tree the Plane is! It bears no fruit and is of no service to man at all.” The Plane-tree interrupted him with indignation. “You ungrateful creature!” it cried: “you come and take shelter under me from the scorching sun, and then, in the very act of enjoying the cool shade of my foliage, you abuse me and call me good for nothing!” Many a service is met with ingratitude.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · XCIV. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §16
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 210, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §16,” can mean this: New learning becomes stronger when we practise it again.
Try this: Observe first and guess second. Change your mind when clues change.
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber XIV – XV
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[16] Adice nunc quod sapientiae praecepta finita debent esse et certa; si qua finiri non possunt, extra sapientiam sunt; sapientia rerum terminos novit. Ergo ista praeceptiva pars summovenda est, quia quod paucis promittit praestare omnibus non potest; sapientia autem omnis tenet.
Aesop’s Fables
The Shepherd and the Wolf
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 211, “Aesop’s Fables · The Shepher…… · the-shepherd-and-the-wolf,” can mean this: Nature is not a toy. Observe it, care for it, and do not harm living things.
Try this: Observe first and guess second. Change your mind when clues change.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
The Aesopic corpus is a long, changing fable tradition, not a set of individually verifiable utterances by one sixth-century BCE author. Each complete item here is fixed to V. S. Vernon Jones’s 1912 English edition.
- Period
- Ancient Greek tradition; 1912 English edition
- Region
- Ancient Mediterranean / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Traditional material associated with the 6th century BCE; translation published 1912
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of the 1912 V. S. Vernon Jones translation
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
A Shepherd found a Wolf’s Cub straying in the pastures, and took him home and reared him along with his dogs. When the Cub grew to his full size, if ever a wolf stole a sheep from the flock, he used to join the dogs in hunting him down. It sometimes happened that the dogs failed to come up with the thief, and, abandoning the pursuit, returned home. The Wolf would on such occasions continue the chase by himself, and when he overtook the culprit, would stop and share the feast with him, and then return to the Shepherd. But if some time passed without a sheep being carried off by the wolves, he would steal one himself and share his plunder with the dogs. The Shepherd’s suspicions were aroused, and one day he caught him in the act; and, fastening a rope round his neck, hung him on the nearest tree. What’s bred in the bone is sure to come out in the flesh.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · CIV. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §31
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 212, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §31,” can mean this: Life and time are precious. Care for yourself and the people around you.
Try this: Before choosing, count to three and ask, “Is there another way?”
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber XVII – XVIII
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[31] Si animo conplecti volueris illius imaginem temporis, videbis illinc plebemet omnem erectum ad res novas vulgum, hinc optumates et equestrem ordinem,quidquid erat in civitate sancti et electi, duos in medio relictos, rempublicam et Catonem. Miraberis, inquam, cum animadverteris
Meditations
Meditations · Book 7, passage 22
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 213, “Meditations · Meditations · …… 7, passage 22 · book-7-p-22,” can mean this: Nature is not a toy. Observe it, care for it, and do not harm living things.
Try this: If you disagree, use calm words to explain why.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Marcus Aurelius governed in the second century CE amid frontier wars, imperial administration, and the Antonine plague. The Meditations are private Greek exercises; the exact date and place of individual notes are often uncertain. This edition uses George Long’s 1862 translation.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 2nd century CE; 1862 English translation
- Region
- Roman Empire / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Original notes c. 170s CE; translation first published 1862
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of George Long’s translation
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
The universal nature out of the universal substance, as if it were wax, now moulds a horse, and when it has broken this up, it uses the material for a tree, then for a man, then for something else; and each of these things subsists for a very short time. But it is no hardship for the vessel to be broken up, just as there was none in its being fastened together.
Pensées
Pensées · Section VI · 359
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 214, “Pensées · Pensées · Section …… · Section VI · fragment 359,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
Try this: Observe first and guess second. Change your mind when clues change.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Pascal left these unfinished fragments amid seventeenth-century French scientific development, religious controversy, and illness, probably for a projected Christian apology. Modern grouping and numbering reflect Brunschvicg’s editorial decisions rather than a finished authorial order. Analysis distinguishes religious argument, mathematics, historical evidence, and personal experience.
- Period
- 17th-century France; early modern science and religious controversy
- Region
- France
- Work date
- Fragments written mainly c. 1657–1662; Brunschvicg edition published 1897–1925
- Edition
- Léon Brunschvicg edition, Section VI
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
Nous ne nous soutenons pas dans la vertu par notre propre force, mais par le contrepoids de deux vices opposés, comme nous demeurons debout entre deux vents contraires : ôtez un de ces vices, nous tombons dans l’autre.
Pensées
Pensées · Section III · 203
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 215, “Pensées · Pensées · Section ……· Section III · fragment 203,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
Try this: Before choosing, count to three and ask, “Is there another way?”
Important reminder: This is one reading, not a rule that is always right. Tell a trusted adult about danger, bullying, or pain.
For adults: historical and edition context
Pascal left these unfinished fragments amid seventeenth-century French scientific development, religious controversy, and illness, probably for a projected Christian apology. Modern grouping and numbering reflect Brunschvicg’s editorial decisions rather than a finished authorial order. Analysis distinguishes religious argument, mathematics, historical evidence, and personal experience.
- Period
- 17th-century France; early modern science and religious controversy
- Region
- France
- Work date
- Fragments written mainly c. 1657–1662; Brunschvicg edition published 1897–1925
- Edition
- Léon Brunschvicg edition, Section III
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
Fascinatio nugacitatis. — Afin que la passion ne nuise point, faisons comme s’il n’y avait que huit jours de vie.
Dhammapada
Dhammapada · I:2
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 216, “Dhammapada · Dhammapada · I:2 · I:2,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
Try this: Observe first and guess second. Change your mind when clues change.
Important reminder: This is one reading, not a rule that is always right. Tell a trusted adult about danger, bullying, or pain.
For adults: historical and edition context
The Dhammapada is an anthology of Pali Buddhist verses shaped by long transmission and compilation, so a verifiable occasion cannot be assigned to each verse. This source uses Max Müller’s 1881 translation and keeps its nineteenth-century philological vocabulary visible.
- Period
- Ancient Indian Buddhist tradition; 1881 English translation
- Region
- South Asia / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Ancient compilation of uncertain date; translation published 1881
- Edition
- Dhammapada, translated by F. Max Müller, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. X
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · XIX. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §3
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 217, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……ENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §3,” can mean this: Be honest with friends. If someone does not understand you, do not rush to anger.
Try this: Observe first and guess second. Change your mind when clues change.
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber II
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[3] Deinde videbunt de isto quibus integra sunt et prima consilia an velint vitam per obscurum transmittere: tibi liberum non est. In medium te protulit ingenii vigor, scriptorum elegantia, clarae et nobiles amicitiae; iam notitia te invasit; ut in extrema mergaris ac penitus recondaris, tamen priora monstrabunt.
論語
子罕第九 · 九之十二
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 218, “論語 · 子罕第九 · 九之十二 · 九之十二,” can mean this: Life and time are precious. Care for yourself and the people around you.
Try this: Tell a trusted adult one thing you learned today.
Important reminder: Old books can reflect old limits. A child does not need to follow every old rule; ask a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Confucius lived amid political fragmentation and changing ritual order in the late Spring and Autumn period. The Analects was compiled over time by disciples and later circles, not recorded as a verbatim transcript. This item is fixed to a specific Wikisource revision.
- Period
- 春秋末至战国编集 / late Spring and Autumn to Warring States compilation
- Region
- 中国 / China
- Work date
- 约公元前5—3世纪逐步编集
- Edition
- 中文维基文库《論語》子罕第九
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
子疾病，子路使門人爲臣。病間，曰：「久矣哉，由之行詐也！無臣而爲有臣，吾誰欺？欺天乎？且予與其死於臣之手也，無寧死於二三子之手乎！且予縱不得大葬，予死於道路乎？」
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · LXXXVIII. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §28
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 219, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §28,” can mean this: Nature is not a toy. Observe it, care for it, and do not harm living things.
Try this: If you disagree, use calm words to explain why.
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber XI – XIII
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[28] Philosophia nil ab alio petit, totum opus a solo excitat: mathematice, ut ita dicam, superficiaria est, in alieno aedificat; accipit prima, quorum beneficio ad ulteriora perveniat. Si per se iret ad verum, si totius mundi naturam posset conprendere, dicerem multum conlaturam mentibus nostris, quae tractatu caelestium crescunt trahuntque aliquid ex alto.
Pensées
Pensées · Section XII · 747
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 220, “Pensées · Pensées · Section ……· Section XII · fragment 747,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
Try this: Today, listen until another person finishes, then answer.
Important reminder: Old books can reflect old limits. A child does not need to follow every old rule; ask a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Pascal left these unfinished fragments amid seventeenth-century French scientific development, religious controversy, and illness, probably for a projected Christian apology. Modern grouping and numbering reflect Brunschvicg’s editorial decisions rather than a finished authorial order. Analysis distinguishes religious argument, mathematics, historical evidence, and personal experience.
- Period
- 17th-century France; early modern science and religious controversy
- Region
- France
- Work date
- Fragments written mainly c. 1657–1662; Brunschvicg edition published 1897–1925
- Edition
- Léon Brunschvicg edition, Section XII
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
Les Juifs charnels et les païens ont des misères, et les chrétiens aussi. Il n’y a point de rédempteur pour les païens, car ils n’en espèrent pas seulement. Il n’y a point de rédempteur pour les Juifs, ils l’espèrent en vain. Il n’y a de rédempteur que pour les Chrétiens (Voyez perpétuité).