What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.” – Blaise Pascal, Pensées no. 425
Contrary to popular belief, the 17th century French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal did not coin the phrase “God-shaped hole,” at least not in so many words. The quotation above, drawn from his fragmentary work Pensées, is the closest he comes to doing so. Arguably, though, the “God-shaped hole” of the vernacular and Pascal’s “infinite abyss” express the same idea.
In a previous paragraph, Pascal declares that “all men seek happiness,” even “those who hang themselves.” They employ a bewildering variety of means to achieve happiness (including, apparently, cabbages – go read it yourself), but “without faith,” these are all doomed to failure. Only an infinite object, after all, can fill an infinite abyss.