Blaise Pascal's Long Letter
Don Box in his SOA talk referenced a classic quote about someone writing a long letter because he didn't have time to write a short one. This analogy has stuck with me and I wanted to get a hold of the true reference. Here it is:
Blaise Pascal, Lettres Provinciales, Letter XVI, December 4, 1656. (tr. Thomas M'Crie)
Reverend fathers, my letters were not wont either to be so prolix, or to follow so closely on one another. Want of time must plead my excuse for both of these faults. The present letter is a very long one, simply because I had no leisure to make it shorter. You know the reason of this haste better than I do. You have been unlucky in your answers. You have done well, therefore, to change your plan; but I am afraid that you will get no credit for it, and that people will say it was done for fear of the Benedictines.
In the original French:
Mes Reverends Peres, mes lettres n'avaient pas accoutume de se suivre de si pres, ni d'etre si etendues. Le peu de temps que j'ai eu a ete cause de l'un et de l'autre. Je n'ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n'ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte.
Now we know!