“It is these wants and these desires that attract them towards you, and that make them submit to you: were it not for these, they would not even look at you”

—  Blaise Pascal

Discourses on the Condition of the Great
Context: What is it, in your opinion, to be a great nobleman? It is to be master of several objects that men covet, and thus to be able to satisfy the wants and the desires of many. It is these wants and these desires that attract them towards you, and that make them submit to you: were it not for these, they would not even look at you; but they hope, by these services... to obtain from you some part of the good which they desire, and of which they see that you have the disposal.

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Blaise Pascal photo
Blaise Pascal144
French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and Chri… 1623–1662

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