“There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who think they are sinners and the sinners who think they are righteous.”

— Blaise Pascal , Pensées

Source: Pensées

Last update Sept. 29, 2023. History

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Blaise Pascal 144

French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and Chri… 1623–1662

Richard Cecil (clergyman) (1748–1810) British Evangelical Anglican priest and social reformer

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 128.

“Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are 50 righteous men within the city. Will you, then, sweep them away and not pardon the place for the sake of the 50 righteous who are inside it? It is unthinkable that you would act in this manner by putting the righteous man to death with the wicked one so that the outcome for the righteous man and the wicked is the same! It is unthinkable of you. Will the Judge of all the earth not do what is right?”

Abraham (-1813–-1638 BC) Biblical patriarch

Genesis 18: 23-25 http://www.jw.org/en/publications/bible/nwt/books/genesis/18/, NWT
Bible

“Can we suppose anything more hateful or even more execrable to God than this fiction of asking the pardon of sins, while he who asks at the very time either thinks that he is not a sinner, or, at least, is not thinking that he is a sinner; in other words, a fiction by which God is plainly held in derision?”

John Calvin book Institutes of the Christian Religion

Book 3, Chapter 20, Section 6
Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536; 1559)

“To hate injustice and stand on righteousness is a difficult thing. Furthermore, to think that being righteous is the best one can do and to do one's utmost to be righteous will, on the contrary, bring many mistakes.”

Tsunetomo Yamamoto book Hagakure

Hagakure (c. 1716)
Context: To hate injustice and stand on righteousness is a difficult thing. Furthermore, to think that being righteous is the best one can do and to do one's utmost to be righteous will, on the contrary, bring many mistakes. The Way is in a higher place than righteousness. This is very difficult to discover, but it is the highest wisdom. When seen from this standpoint, things like righteousness are rather shallow. If one does not understand this on his own, it cannot be known. There is a method of getting to this Way, however, even if one cannot discover it by himself. This is found in consultation with others. Even a person who has not attained this Way sees others from the side. It is like the saying from the game of go: "He who sees from the side has eight eyes." The saying, "Thought by thought we see our own mistakes," also means that the highest Way is in discussion with others.