In fact, two
gems from Pascal's Pénsées would make for perfect epigrams with which to begin and end Kugel's
book: «The eternal silence
of these infinite spaces frightens me» (which sums up his argument about the
absolute «smallness» and «silence» that circumscribe our existence and lead us to transcendence), and, «The heart has its reasons, which reason can not understand,» (which sums up his argument against rational reductionism).