For it is no use to say it is uncertain if we will gain, and it is cer… — Pensées
SAPIR 861
For it is no use to say it is uncertain if we will gain, and it is certain that we risk, and that the infinite distance between the _certainty_ of what is staked and the _uncertainty_ of what will be gained, equals the finite good which is certainly staked against the uncertain infinite. It is not so, as every player stakes a certainty to gain an uncertainty, and yet he stakes a finite certainty to gain a finite uncertainty, without transgressing against reason. There is not an infinite distance between the certainty staked and the uncertainty of the gain; that is untrue. In truth, there is an infinity between the certainty of gain and the certainty of loss. But the uncertainty of the gain is proportioned to the certainty of the stake according to the proportion of the chances of gain and loss. Hence it comes that, if there are as many risks on one side as on the other, the course is to
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (WLC), CC BY 4.0