Chaos of thought and passion, all confused; Still by himself abused or disabused; Created half to rise, and half to fall; Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all; Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled,— The glory, jest, and riddle of the world.1
ATTRIBUTION:
Essay on Man. Epistle ii. Line 13.
Note 1. What a chimera, then, is man! what a novelty, what a monster, what a chaos, what a subject of contradiction, what a prodigy! A judge of all things, feeble worm of the earth, depositary of the truth, cloaca of uncertainty and error, the glory and the shame of the universe.—Blaise Pascal: Thoughts, chap. x. [back]
