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.
Pensées
Pensées · Section IX · 601
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 421, “Pensées · Pensées · Section …… · Section IX · fragment 601,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
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
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 IX
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
Fondement de notre foi. — La religion païenne est sans fondement [aujourd’hui. On dit qu’autrefois elle en a eu par les oracles qui ont parlé. Mais quels sont les livres qui nous en assurent ? sont-ils si dignes de foi par la vertu de leurs auteurs ? sont-ils conservés avec tant de soin qu’on puisse s’assurer qu’ils ne sont point corrompus ?] La religion mahométane a pour fondement l’Alcoran et Mahomet ; mais ce prophète, qui devait être la dernière attente du monde, a-t-il été prédit ? et quelle marque a-t-il que n’ait aussi tout homme qui se voudra dire prophète ? quels miracles dit-il lui-même avoir faits ? quels mystères a-t-il enseignés, selon sa tradition même ? quelle morale et quelle félicité ? La religion juive doit être regardée différemment dans la tradition des livres saints et dans la tradition du peuple. La morale et la félicité en est ridicule dans la tradition du peuple ; mais elle est admirable dans celle de leurs Saints (et toute religion est de même : car la chrétienne est bien différente dans les Livres Saints et dans les casuistes). Le fondement en est admirable, c’est le plus ancien livre du monde et le plus authentique ; et, au lieu que Mahomet, pour faire subsister le sien, a défendu de le lire, Moïse, pour faire subsister le sien, a ordonné à tout le monde de le lire. Notre religion est si divine, qu’une autre religion divine n’en a que le fondement.
Meditations
Meditations · Book 11, passage 14
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 422, “Meditations · Meditations · ……1, passage 14 · book-11-p-14,” can mean this: Think before speaking, and do not call a guess a fact.
Try this: Today, listen until another person finishes, then answer.
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
The spherical form of the soul maintains its figure, when it is neither extended towards any object, nor contracted inwards, nor dispersed nor sinks down, but is illuminated by light, by which it sees the truth, the truth of all things and the truth that is in itself.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · XV. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §5
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 423, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……ENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §5,” can mean this: People with power should explain their reasons and allow questions.
Try this: Tell a trusted adult one thing you learned today.
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
[5] Quidquid facies, cito redi a corpore ad animum; illum noctibus ac diebus exerce. Labore modico alitur ille; hanc exercitationem non frigus, non aestus impediet, ne senectus quidem. Id bonum cura quod vetustate fit melius.
Aesop’s Fables
Mercury and the Man Bitten by an Ant
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 424, “Aesop’s Fables · Mercury and……and-the-man-bitten-by-an-ant,” can mean this: Life and time are precious. Care for yourself and the people around you.
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
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 Man once saw a ship go down with all its crew, and commented severely on the injustice of the gods. “They care nothing for a man’s character,” said he, “but let the good and the bad go to their deaths together.” There was an ant-heap close by where he was standing, and, just as he spoke, he was bitten in the foot by an Ant. Turning in a temper to the ant-heap he stamped upon it and crushed hundreds of unoffending ants. Suddenly Mercury appeared, and belaboured him with his staff, saying as he did so, “You villain, where’s your nice sense of justice now?”
Meditations
Meditations · Book 5, passage 34
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 425, “Meditations · Meditations · …… 5, passage 34 · book-5-p-34,” can mean this: Life and time are precious. Care for yourself and the people around you.
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
Soon, very soon, thou wilt be ashes, or a skeleton, and either a name or not even a name; but name is sound and echo. And the things which are much valued in life are empty and rotten and trifling, and like little dogs biting one another, and little children quarrelling, laughing, and then straightway weeping. But fidelity and modesty and justice and truth are fled
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · XII. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §4
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 426, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……ENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §4,” can mean this: Wanting more is normal, and we can also learn what is enough.
Try this: If something is hard today, say, “Please help me.”
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
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 I
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[4] Debeo hoc suburbano meo, quod mihi senectus mea quocumque adverteram apparuit. Complectamur illam et amemus; plena <est> voluptatis, si illa scias uti. Gratissima sunt poma cum fugiunt; pueritiae maximus in exitu decor est; deditos vino potio extrema delectat, illa quae mergit, quae ebrietati summam manum imponit;
論語
子罕第九 · 九之二一
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 427, “論語 · 子罕第九 · 九之二一 · 九之二一,” can mean this: Ask one more question before making a judgment.
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
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
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子謂顏淵，曰：「惜乎！吾見其進也，未見其止也！」
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · LXIV. §3
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 428, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……V. §3 · Liber VII · LXIV. §3,” can mean this: A first feeling may not be the whole truth. Pause and think again.
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
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 VII
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[3] Quantus in illo, di boni, vigor est, quantum animi! Hoc non in omnibus philosophis invenies: quorundam scripta clarum habentium nomen exanguia sunt. Instituunt, disputant, cavillantur, non faciunt animum quia non habent: cum legeris Sextium, dices, ‘vivit, viget, liber es, supra hominem est, dimittit me plenum ingentis fiduciae’.
Meditations
Meditations · Book 6, passage 6
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 429, “Meditations · Meditations · ……ok 6, passage 6 · book-6-p-6,” can mean this: Knowing what is right matters, and doing it matters too.
Try this: If you disagree, use calm words to explain why.
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
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 best way of avenging thyself is not to become like the wrong doer.
Pensées
Pensées · Section IX · 596
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 430, “Pensées · Pensées · Section …… · Section IX · fragment 596,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
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
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 IX
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
Les psaumes chantés par toute la terre. Qui rend témoignage de Mahomet ? Lui-même. Jésus-Christ veut que son témoignage ne soit rien. La qualité de témoins fait qu’il faut qu’ils soient toujours et partout, et, misérable, il est seul.
Dhammapada
Dhammapada · IV:54
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 431, “Dhammapada · Dhammapada · IV:54 · IV:54,” can mean this: Knowing what is right matters, and doing it matters too.
Try this: Observe first and guess second. Change your mind when clues change.
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
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
The scent of flowers does not travel against the wind, nor (that of) sandal-wood, or of Tagara and Mallika flowers; but the odour of good people travels even against the wind; a good man pervades every place.
Pensées
Pensées · Section VI · 405
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 432, “Pensées · Pensées · Section …… · Section VI · fragment 405,” 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: 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 VI
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
Contradiction. — Orgueil, contrepesant toutes les misères : ou il cache ses misères ; ou, s’il les découvre, il se glorifie de les connaître.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · LXXVI. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §24
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 433, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §24,” can mean this: Life and time are precious. Care for yourself and the people around you.
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
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 IX
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[24] Si ullum aliud est bonum quam honestum, sequetur nos aviditas vitae, aviditas rerum vitam instruentium, quod est intolerabile, infinitum, vagum. Solum ergo bonum est honestum, cui modus est.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · XCIV. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §74
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 434, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §74,” 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: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with 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
[74] Tunc adpetita formidant et quae illos graves aliis reddit gravior ipsis felicitas incubat. Tunc laudant otium lene et sui iuris, odio est fulgor et fuga a rebus adhuc stantibus quaeritur. Tunc demum videas philosophantis metu et aegrae fortunae sana consilia. Nam quasi ista inter se contraria sint, bona fortuna et mens bona, ita melius in malis sapimus: secunda rectum auferunt. Vale.
Meditations
Meditations · Book 8, passage 10
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 435, “Meditations · Meditations · …… 8, passage 10 · book-8-p-10,” can mean this: Wanting more is normal, and we can also learn what is enough.
Try this: After a task, check whether it truly helped someone.
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
Repentance is a kind of self-reproof for having neglected something useful; but that which is good must be something useful, and the perfect good man should look after it. But no such man would ever repent of having refused any sensual pleasure. Pleasure then is neither good nor useful.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · CVIII. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §5
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 436, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……ENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §5,” can mean this: After learning something, practise it and ask for help when needed.
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
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
[5] 'Quid ergo? non novimus quosdam qui multis apud philosophum annispersederint et ne colorem quidem duxerint?' Quidni noverim? pertinacissimosquidem et adsiduos, quos ego non discipulos philosophorum sed inquilinosvoco.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · XXII. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §5
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 437, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……ENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §5,” can mean this: When someone is hurt, listen and help repair the harm.
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
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 III
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[5] Numquid offenderis si in consilium non venio tantum sed advoco, et quidem prudentiores quam ipse sum, ad quos soleo deferre si quid delibero? Epicuri epistulam ad hanc rem pertinentem lege, Idomeneo quae inscribitur, quem rogat ut quantum potest fugiat et properet, antequam aliqua vis maior interveniat et auferat libertatem recedendi.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · XCI. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §18
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 438, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §18,” 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: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with 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
[18] Hoc puta rerum naturam dicere: 'ista de quibus quereris omnibus eadem sunt; nulli dare faciliora possum, sed quisquis volet sibi ipse illa reddet faciliora'. Quomodo? aequanimitate. Et doleas oportet et sitias et esurias et senescas (si tibi longior contigerit inter homines mora) et aegrotes et perdas aliquid et pereas.
Dhammapada
Dhammapada · XV:205
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 439, “Dhammapada · Dhammapada · XV:205 · XV:205,” can mean this: People with power should explain their reasons and allow questions.
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
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
He who has tasted the sweetness of solitude and tranquillity, is free from fear and free from sin, while he tastes the sweetness of drinking in the law.
Pensées
Pensées · Section IX · 615
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 440, “Pensées · Pensées · Section …… · Section IX · fragment 615,” can mean this: When angry, pause first. Let your body settle, then explain why.
Try this: Before choosing, count to three and ask, “Is there another way?”
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 IX
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
On a beau dire. Il faut avouer que la religion chrétienne a quelque chose d’étonnant. C’est parce que vous y êtes né, dira-t-on. Tant s’en faut ; je me roidis contre, pour cette raison-là même, de peur que cette prévention ne me suborne ; mais, quoique j’y sois né, je ne laisse pas de le trouver ainsi.