However possibly he meant sit still usefully, otherwise why sit rather than lounge in an ottoman? sit still, that is, sustain study, or read literature, or have creative idylls, write, comtemplate the inner realms. Sounds to me like the quote is the classical ideal of useful employment, by which comparison much social interaction or being glued to a phone is judged as laziness or, anachronically, dissipation.
The sitting part is actually not in the original quote (“Tout le malheur des hommes vient d’une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos dans une chambre”). It was just about staying at rest in a room.
Note that “at rest” being specified, it really was about doing nothing. And sure, Blaise Pascal was extremely active, extremely prolific since his very early days, and he probably couldn’t stay still doing nothing for long.
Yes, I always thought this was meant a bit tongue-in-cheek as a tautology: the sins (and wonders) of man stem from the compulsion to exercise ones agency.
