Blaise Pascal
You would like to attain faith, and do not know the way; you would like to cure yourself of unbelief, and ask the remedy for it. Learn of those who have been bound like you … Follow the way by which they began; by acting as if they believed, taking the holy water, having masses said, etc. Even this will naturally make you believe, and deaden your acuteness.
Source details
1660 · Pensées — the reply to "I cannot make myself believe"
Checked word-for-word against Pascal's Pensées · 2026-07-18