Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it. – Blaise Pascal
One must know oneself. If this does not serve to discover truth, it at least serves as a rule of life and there is nothing better. – Blaise Pascal
It is not good to be too free. It is not good to have everything one wants. – Blaise Pascal
Atheism shows strength of mind, but only to a certain degree. – Blaise Pascal
Fiction is a kind of compassion-generating machine that saves us from sloth. Is life kind or cruel? Yes, Literature answers. Are people good or bad? You bet, says Literature. But unlike other systems of knowing, Literature declines to eradicate one truth in favor of another. – George Saunders
Unfortunately, the real achievements of children on the ground became debased and devalued because Labor education secretaries sounded like Soviet commissars praising the tractor production figures when we know that those exams were not the rock-solid measures of achievement that children deserve. – Michael Gove