Top quotes by Rene Descartes

I hope that posterity will judge me kindly, not only as to the things which I have explained, but also to those which I have intentionally omitted so as to leave to others the pleasure of discovery. Votes: 11

An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist always run to blow it out? Votes: 9

Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has. Votes: 7

The greatest minds, as they are capable of the highest excellencies, are open likewise to the greatest aberrations; and those who travel very slowly may yet make far greater progress, provided they keep always to the straight road, than those who, while they run, forsake it. Votes: 6

In order to improve the mind, we ought less to learn, than to contemplate. Votes: 5

At last I will devote myself sincerely and without reservation to the general demolition of my opinions. Votes: 5

You just keep pushing. You just keep pushing. I made every mistake that could be made. But I just kept pushing. Votes: 5

The rainbow is such a remarkable phenomenon of nature, and its cause has been so meticulously sought after by inquiring minds throughout the ages, that I could not choose a more appropriate subject for demonstrating how, with the method I am using, we can arrive at knowledge not possessed at all by those whose writings are available to us. Votes: 4

It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well Votes: 4

Whenever enyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offense cannot reach it. Votes: 4

I was convinced that our beliefs are based much more on custom and example than on any certain knowledge. Votes: 3

This result could have been achieved either by his [God] endowing my intellect with a clear and distinct perception of everything about which I would ever deliberate, or simply by impressing the following rule so firmly upon my memory that I could never forget it: I should never judge anything that I do not clearly and distinctly understand. Votes: 2

[About Pierre de Fermat] It cannot be denied that he has had many exceptional ideas, and that he is a highly intelligent man. For my part, however, I have always been taught to take a broad overview of things, in order to be able to deduce from them general rules, which might be applicable elsewhere. Votes: 2

It must not be thought that it is ever possible to reach the interior earth by any perseverance in mining: both because the exterior earth is too thick, in comparison with human strength; and especially because of the intermediate waters, which would gush forth with greater impetus, the deeper the place in which their veins were first opened; and which would drown all miners. Votes: 2

Common sense is the most widely shared commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it. Votes: 2

With me, everything turns into mathematics. Votes: 2

Any community that gets its laughs by pretending to be idiots will eventually be flooded by actual idiots who mistakenly believe that they're in good company. Votes: 2

Dubito ergo cogito; cogito ergo sum. (I doubt, therefore I think; I think therefore I am Votes: 1

Everybody thinks himself so well supplied with common sense that even those most difficult to please. . . never desire more of it than they already have Votes: 1

So blind is the curiosity by which mortals are possessed, that they often conduct their minds along unexplored routes, having no reason to hope for success, but merely being willing to risk the experiment of finding whether the truth they seek lies there. Votes: 0

The dreams we imagine when we are asleep should not in any way make us doubt the truth of the thoughts we have when we are awake. Votes: 0

When I turn my mind's eye upon myself, I understand that I am a thing which is incomplete and dependent on another and which aspires without limit to ever greater and better things... Votes: 0

And thus, the actions of life often not allowing any delay, it is a truth very certain that, when it is not in our power to determine the most true opinions we ought to follow the most probable. Votes: 0

Dubium sapientiae initium (Doubt is the origin of wisdom). Votes: 0

But in my opinion, all things in nature occur mathematically. Votes: 0

Everything is self-evident. Votes: 0

It is only prudent never to place complete confidence in that by which we have even once been deceived. Votes: 0

Here I beg you to observe in passing that the scruples that prevented ancient writers from using arithmetical terms in geometry, and which can only be a consequence of their inability to perceive clearly the relation between these two subjects, introduced much obscurity and confusion into their explanations. Votes: 0

My third maxim was to try always to conquer myself rather than fortune, and to change my desires rather than the order of the world, and generally to accustom myself to believing that there is nothing entirely in our power except our thoughts, so that after we have done our best regarding things external to us, everything in which we do not succeed is for us absolutely impossible. Votes: 0

When it is not in our power to follow what is true, we ought to follow what is most probable. Votes: 0

The first precept was never to accept a thing as true until I knew it as such without a single doubt. Votes: 0

I did not imitate the skeptics who doubt only for doubting's sake, and pretend to be always undecided; on the contrary, my whole intention was to arrive at a certainty, and to dig away the drift and the sand until I reached the rock or the clay beneath. Votes: 0

There is nothing so strange and so unbelievable that it has not been said by one philosopher or another. Votes: 0

The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues. Votes: 0

I think; therefore I am. Votes: 0

Illusory joy is often worth more than genuine sorrow. Votes: 0

One cannot conceive anything so strange and so implausible that it has not already been said by one philosopher or another. Votes: 0

It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well. Votes: 0

Common sense is the most fairly distributed thing in the world, for each one thinks he is so well-endowed with it that even those who are hardest to satisfy in all other matters are not in the habit of desiring more of it than they already have. Votes: 0

A state is better governed which has few laws, and those laws strictly observed. Votes: 0

... moral certainty is certainty which is sufficient to regulate our behaviour, or which measures up to the certainty we have on matters relating to the conduct of life which we never normally doubt, though we know that it is possible, absolutely speaking, that they may be false. Votes: 0

... regard this body as a machine which, having been made by the hand of God, is incomparably better ordered than any machine that can be devised by man, and contains in itself movements more wonderful than those in any machine. ... it is for all practical purposes impossible for a machine to have enough organs to make it act in all the contingencies of life in the way in which our reason makes us act. Votes: 0

...it is certain that I am really distinct from my body, and can exist without it. Votes: 0

A person has two passions for love and abhorrence. A big disposition to excessiveness has just a love, because it is more ardent and stronger. Votes: 0

All is to be doubted. Votes: 0

Although my knowledge grows more and more, nevertheless I do not for that reason believe that it can ever be actually infinite, since it can never reach a point so high that it will be unable to attain any greater increase. Votes: 0

And as it is the most generous souls who have most gratitude, it is those who have most pride, and who are most base and infirm, who most allow themselves to be carried away by anger and hatred. Votes: 0

And I shall always hold myself more obliged to those by whose favour I enjoy uninterrupted leisure than to any who might offer me the most honourable positions in the world. Votes: 0

And thereby make ourselves, as it were, the lords and masters of nature. Votes: 0

Archimedes, that he might transport the entire globe ... demanded only a point that was firm and immovable; so also, I shall be entitled to entertain the highest expectations, if I am fortunate enough to discover only one thing that is certain and indubitable. Votes: 0

As I considered the matter carefully it gradually came to light that all those matters only were referred to mathematics in which order and measurements are investigated, and that it makes no difference whether it be in numbers, figures, stars, sounds or any other object that the question of measurement arises. I saw consequently that there must be some general science to explain that element as a whole which gives rise to problems about order and measurement, restricted as these are to no special subject matter. This, I perceived was called 'universal mathematics'. Votes: 0

Bad books engender bad habits, but bad habits engender good books. Votes: 0

Be that as it may, there is fixed in my mind a certain opinion of long [21] standing, namely that there exists a God who is able to do anything and by whom I, such as I am, have been created. How do I know that he did not bring it about that there is no earth at all, no heavens, no extended thing, no shape, no size, no place, and yet bringing it about that all these things appear to me to exist precisely as they do now? Votes: 0

Because reason...is the only thing that makes us men, and distinguishes us from the beasts, I would prefer to believe that it exists, in its entirety, in each of us... Votes: 0

Before examining this more carefully and investigating its consequences, I want to dwell for a moment in the contemplation of God, to ponder His attributes in me, to see, admire, and adore the beauty of His boundless light, insofar as my clouded insight allows. Believing that the supreme happiness of the other life consists wholly of the contemplation of divine greatness, I now find that through less perfect contemplation of the same sort I can gain the greatest joy available in this life. Votes: 0

But I cannot forget that, at other times I have been deceived in sleep by similar illusions; and, attentively considering those cases, I perceive so clearly that there exist no certain marks by which the state of waking can ever be distinguished from sleep, that I feel greatly astonished; and in amazement I almost persuade myself that I am now dreaming. Votes: 0

But possibly I am something more than I suppose myself to be. Votes: 0

By 'God', I understand, a substance which is infinite, independent, supremely intelligent, supremely powerful, and which created both myself and everything else [...] that exists. All these attributes are such that, the more carefully I concentrate on them, the less possible it seems that they could have originated from me alone. So, from what has been said it must be concluded that God necessarily exists Votes: 0

Common sense is the best distributed thing in the world, for we all think we possess a good share of it. Votes: 0

Conquer yourself rather than the world. Votes: 0

De omnibus dubitandum Votes: 0

Desire awakens only to things that are thought possible. Votes: 0

Divide each difficulty at hand into as many pieces as possible and as could be required to better solve them. Votes: 0

Doubt is the origin of wisdom Votes: 0

Even if I were to suppose that I was dreaming and whatever I saw or imagined was false, yet I could not deny that ideas were truly in my mind. Votes: 0

Even the mind depends so much on temperament and the disposition of one's bodily organs that, if it is possible to find a way to make people generally more wise and more skilful than they have been in the past, I believe that we should look for it in medicine. It is true that medicine as it is currently practiced contains little of much use. Votes: 0

Even those who have the weakest souls could acquire absolute mastery over all their passions if we employed sufficient ingenuity in training and guiding them. Votes: 0

Every man is indeed bound to do what he can to promote the good of others, and a man who is of no use to anyone is strictly worthless. Votes: 0

Everybody thinks himself so well supplied with common sense that even those most difficult to please. . . never desire more of it than they already have. Votes: 0

Few look for truth; many prowl about for a reputation of profundity by arrogantly challenging whichever arguments are the best. Votes: 0

For each of us there is a set limit to our intellectual powers which we cannot pass. Votes: 0

For how do we know that the thoughts which occur in dreaming are false rather than those others which we experience when awake, since the former are often not less vivid and distinct than the latter? Votes: 0

For I found myself embarrassed with so many doubts and errors that it seemed to me that the effort to instruct myself had no effect other than th eincreasing discovery of my own ignorance Votes: 0

For to be possessed of a vigorous mind is not enough; the prime requisite is rightly to apply it. Votes: 0

Give me extension and motion and I will construct the universe. Votes: 0

God alone is the author of all the motions in the world. Votes: 0

Good sense is the most equitably distributed of all things because no matter how much or little a person has, everyone feels so abundantly provided with good sense that he feels no desire for more than he already possesses. Votes: 0

Good sense is, of all things among men, the most equally distributed; for every one thinks himself so abundantly provided with it, that those even who are the most difficult to satisfy in everything else, do not usually desire a larger measure of this quality than they already possess. Votes: 0

He lives well who is well hidden. Votes: 0

He who hid well, lived well. Votes: 0

Hence reason also demands that, since our thoughts cannot all be true because we are not wholly perfect, what truth they do possess must inevitably be found in the thoughts we have when awake, rather than in our dreams. Votes: 0

How can you be certain that your whole life is not a dream? Votes: 0

How do we know that anything really exists, that anything is really the way it seems ot us through our senses? Votes: 0

Human wisdom remains always one and the same although applied to the most diverse objects and it is no more changed by their diversity than the sunshine is changed by the variety of objects which it illuminates. Votes: 0

I accept no principles of physics which are not also accepted in mathematics. Votes: 0

I am thing that thinks: that is, a things that doubts,affirms, denies, understands a few things, is ignorant of many things, is willing, is unwilling, and also which imagines and has sensory perceptions. Votes: 0

I am thinking, therefore I exist. (...) I was a substance whose whole essence or nature is solely to think, and which does not require any place, or depend on any material thing, in order to exist. Accordingly this 'I' - that is, the soul by which I am what I am - is entirely distinct from the body, and indeed is easier to know than the body, and would not fail to be whatever it is, even if the body did not exist. Votes: 0

I can doubt everything, except one thing, and that is the very fact that I doubt. Simply put - I think, therefore I am Votes: 0

I concluded that I might take as a general rule the principle that all things which we very clearly and obviously conceive are true: only observing, however, that there is some difficulty in rightly determining the objects which we distinctly conceive. Votes: 0

I desire to live in peace and to continue the life I have begun under the motto 'to live well you must live unseen Votes: 0

I experienced in myself a certain capacity for judging which I have doubtless received from God, like all the other things that I possess; and as He could not desire to deceive me, it is clear that He has not given me a faculty that will lead me to err if I use it aright. Votes: 0

I have concluded the evident existence of God, and that my existence depends entirely on God in all the moments of my life, that I do not think that the human spirit may know anything with greater evidence and certitude. Votes: 0

I know that I exist; the question is, What is this 'I' that 'I' know. Votes: 0

I should consider that I know nothing about physics if I were able to explain only how things might be, and were unable to demonstrate that they could not be otherwise. Votes: 0

I suppose therefore that all things I see are illusions; I believe that nothing has ever existed of everything my lying memory tells me. I think I have no senses. I believe that body, shape, extension, motion, location are functions. What is there then that can be taken as true? Perhaps only this one thing, that nothing at all is certain. Votes: 0

I think therefore am. Votes: 0

If ... it is not in my power to arrive at the knowledge of any truth, I may at least do what is in my power, namely, suspend judgement ... Votes: 0

If I found any new truths in the sciences, I can say that they follow from, or depend on, five or six principal problems which I succeeded in solving and which I regard as so many battles where the fortunes of war were on my side. Votes: 0

If I go for the alternative which is false, then obviously I shall be in error; if I take the other side, then it is by... chance that I arrive at the truth, and I shall still be at fault.... In this incorrect use of free will may be found the privation which constitutes the essence of error. Votes: 0

If I simply refrain from making a judgment in cases where I do not perceive the truth with sufficient clarity and distinctness, then it is clear that I am behaving correctly and avoiding error. Votes: 0

If we possessed a thorough knowledge of all the parts of the seed of any animal (e.g. man), we could from that alone, be reasons entirely mathematical and certain, deduce the whole conformation and figure of each of its members, and, conversely if we knew several peculiarities of this conformation, we would from those deduce the nature of its seed. Votes: 0

In God there is an infinitude of things which I cannot comprehend, nor possibly even reach in any way by thought; for it is the nature of the infinite that my nature, which is finite and limited, should not comprehend it. Votes: 0

In philosophy, when we make use of false principles, we depart the farther from the knowledge of truth and wisdom exactly in proportion to the care with which we cultivate them, and apply ourselves to the deduction of diverse consequences from them, thinking that we are philosophizing well, while we are only departing the farther from the truth; from which it must be inferred that they who have learned the least of all that has been hitherto distinguished by the name of philosophy are the most fitted for the apprehension of truth. Votes: 0

In the matter of a difficult question it is more likely that the truth should have been discovered by the few than by the many. Votes: 0

Instead I ought to be grateful to Him who never owed me anything for having been so generous to me, rather than think that He deprived me of those things or has taken away from me whatever He did not give me. Votes: 0

Intuition is the undoubting conception of a pure and attentive mind, which arises from the light of reason alone, and is more certain than deduction. Votes: 0

Intuitive knowledge is an illumination of the soul, whereby it beholds in the light of God those things which it pleases Him to reveal to us by a direct impression of divine clearness. Votes: 0

It is best not to go on for great quest for truth , it will only make you miserable Votes: 0

It is contrary to reasoning to say that there is a vacuum or space in which there is absolutely nothing. Votes: 0

It is possible that I am dreaming right now and that all of my perceptions are false. Votes: 0

It is to the body alone that we should attribute everything that can be observed in us to oppose our reason. Votes: 0

It's the familiar love-hate syndrome of seduction: "I don't really care what it is I say, I care only that you like it." Votes: 0

Just as we believe by faith that the greatest happiness of the next life consists simply in the contemplation of this divine majesty, likewise we experience that we derive the greatest joy of which we are capable in this life from the same contemplation, even though it is much less perfect. Votes: 0

Let whoever can do so deceive me, he will never bring it about that I am nothing, so long as I continue to think I am something. Votes: 0

Mathematics is a more powerful instrument of knowledge than any other that has been bequeathed to us by human agency. Votes: 0

Neither divine grace nor natural knowledge ever diminishes freedom. Votes: 0

Neither the true nor the false roots are always real; sometimes they are imaginary; that is, while we can always imagine as many roots for each equation as I have assigned, yet there is not always a definite quantity corresponding to each root we have imagined. Votes: 0

Nothing comes out of nothing. Votes: 0

Now therefore, that my mind is free from all cares, and that I have obtained for myself assured leisure in peaceful solitude, I shall apply myself seriously and freely to the general destruction of all my former opinions. Votes: 0

Omnia apud me mathematica fiunt. Votes: 0

On the one hand I have a clear and distinct idea of myself, in so far as I am a thinking, non-extended thing; and on the other hand I have a distinct idea of body, in so far a this is simply an extended, non-thinking thing. And, accordingly, it is certain that I am really distinct from my body, and exist without it. Votes: 0

Reason is nothing without imagination. Votes: 0

Science is practical philosophy. Votes: 0

Sensations are nothing but confused modes of thinking. Votes: 0

Situations in life often permit no delay; and when we cannot determine the course which is certainly best, we must follow the one which is probably the best. This frame of mind freed me also from the repentance and remorse commonly felt by those vacillating individuals who are always seeking as worthwhile things which they later judge to be bad. Votes: 0

So far, I have been a spectator in this theater which is the world, but I am now about to mount the stage, and I come forward masked. Votes: 0

Some years ago I was struck by the large number of falsehoods that I had accepted as true in my childhood, and by the highly doubtful nature of the whole edifice that I had subsequently based on them. I realized that it was necessary, once in the course of my life, to demolish everything completely and start again right from the foundations if I wanted to establish anything at all in the sciences that was stable and likely to last. Votes: 0

The chief cause of human errors is to be found in the prejudices picked up in childhood. Votes: 0

The entire method consists in the order and arrangement of the things to which the mind's eye must turn so that we can discover some truth. Votes: 0

The mind effortlessly and automatically takes in new ideas, which remain in limbo until verified or rejected by conscious, rational analysis. Votes: 0

The nature of matter, or body considered in general, consists not in its being something which is hard or heavy or coloured, or which affects the senses in any way, but simply in its being something which is extended in length, breadth and depth. Votes: 0

The object of music is a Sound. The end; to delight, and move various Affections in us. Votes: 0

The only secure knowledge is that I exist. Votes: 0

The only thing that I know, is that I know nothing Votes: 0

The only thing we have power over in the universe is our own thoughts. Votes: 0

The principal effect of the passions is that they incite and persuade the mind to will the events for which they prepared the body. Votes: 0

The principal use of prudence, of self-control, is that it teaches us to be masters of our passions, and to so control and guide them that the evils which they cause are quite bearable, and that we even derive joy from them all. Votes: 0

The reading of all good books is indeed like a conversation with the noblest men of past centuries who were the authors of them, nay a carefully studied conversation, in which they reveal to us none but the best of their thoughts. Votes: 0

There is a difference between happiness, the supreme good, and the final end or goal toward which our actions ought to tend. For happiness is not the supreme good, but presupposes it, being the contentment or satisfaction of the mind which results from possessing it. Votes: 0

There is a great difference between mind and body insomuch as body is by nature always divisible, and the mind is entirely indivisible. Votes: 0

There is a little gland in the brain in which the soul exercises its functions in a more particular way than in the other parts. Votes: 0

There is nothing more ancient than the truth. Votes: 0

There is nothing so far removed from us to be beyond our reach, or so far hidden that we cannot discover it. Votes: 0

These long chains of perfectly simple and easy reasonings by means of which geometers are accustomed to carry out their most difficult demonstrations had led me to fancy that everything that can fall under human knowledge forms a similar sequence; and that so long as we avoid accepting as true what is not so, and always preserve the right order of deduction of one thing from another, there can be nothing too remote to be reached in the end, or to well hidden to be discovered. Votes: 0

Thus each truth discovered was a rule available in the discovery of subsequent ones. Votes: 0

To live without philosophizing is in truth the same as keeping the eyes closed without attempting to open them. Votes: 0

Travelling is almost like talking with those of other centuries. Votes: 0

Truths are more likely to be discovered by one man than by a nation Votes: 0

Variant: When it is not in our power to follow what is true, we ought to follow what is most probable. Votes: 0

We call infinite that thing whose limits we have not perceived, and so by that word we do not signify what we understand about a thing, but rather what we do not understand. Votes: 0

We do not describe the world we see, we see the world we can describe. Votes: 0

We never understand a thing so well,and make it our own, as when we have discovered it for ourselves. Votes: 0

What then is the source of my errors? They are owing simply to the fact that, since the will extends further than the intellect, I do not contain the will within the same boundaries; rather, I also extend it to things I do not understand. Because the will is indifferent in regard to such matters, it easily turns away from the true and the good; and in this way I am deceived and I sin. Votes: 0

Whatever I have up till now accepted as most true and assured I have gotten either from the senses or through the senses. But from time to time I have found that the senses deceive, and it is prudent never to trust completely those who have deceived us even once. Votes: 0

When I consider this carefully, I find not a single property which with certainty separates the waking state from the dream. How can you be certain that your whole life is not a dream? Votes: 0

When writing about transcendental issues, be transcendentally clear. Votes: 0

Wonder is the first of all the passions. Votes: 0

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the self-same well from which your laughter rises was often-times filled with your tears. Votes: 0

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