Single Idea 6681

[catalogued under 19. Language / F. Communication / 1. Rhetoric]

Full Idea

We usually only want to know something so that we can talk about it.

Gist of Idea

We only want to know things so that we can talk about them

Source

Blaise Pascal (Pensées [1662], 77 (152))

Book Reference

Pascal,Blaise: 'Pensées', ed/tr. Krailsheimer,A.J. [Penguin 1966], p.50


A Reaction

This may be right, but I wouldn't underestimate it as a worthy end (though Pascal, as usual, calls it 'vanity'). Good talk might even be the highest human good (how many people like, more than anything, chatting in pubs?), and good talk is knowledgeable.