One of the major underlying themes of the Pensées is the idea that mankind embodies a duality, or paradox, that occupies an intermediary state between two extremes. In this duality or paradox, various opposites are united in tension—for example, body and soul, both of which combine to form the human being. Blaise Pascal frequently articulates this idea in terms of mankind embodying both greatness and misery. For Pascal, this essential in-betweenness of humanity is related to its status before God, and especially to the theological idea that human beings were created in a state of happiness and perfection but experienced a fall into sin and evil. While still retaining something of their original spiritual greatness, human beings must suffer the consequences of original sin as they slowly strive to find their way back to God and the truth with the help of divine grace.

Pascal believes that the proof of humanity’s insufficiency and unhappiness is all around us. Pascal argues that the default state of humans is dissatisfaction: Humans sense that something is missing and they wish to connect with something outside of themselves, but they are easily prone to distractions and chasing false goals that can never bring true peace or satisfaction.