René Descartes Quotes

And, in fine, of false sciences I thought I knew the worth sufficiently to escape being deceived by the professions of an alchemist, the predictions of an astrologer, the impostures of a magician, or by the artifices and boasting of any of those who profess to know things of which they are ignorant.

that we conduct our thoughts along different ways, and do not fix our attention on the same objects.

Thus the perception of the infinite is somehow prior in me to the perception of the finite, that is, my perception of God is prior to my perception of myself. For how would I understand that I doubt and that I desire, that is, that I lack something and that I am not wholly perfect, unless there were some idea in me of a more perfect being, by comparison with which I might recognize my defects?

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

For there is hardly any question in the sciences about which clever men have not frequently disagreed. But whenever two persons make opposite judgements about the same thing, it is certain that at least one of them is mistaken, and neither, it seems, has knowledge. For if the reasoning of one of them were certain and evident, he would be able to lay it before the other in such a way as eventually to convince his intellect as well.

Conquer yourself rather than the world.

But immediately upon this I observed that, whilst I thus wished to think that all was false, it was absolutely necessary that I, who thus thought, should be somewhat; and as I observed that this truth, I think, therefore I am (cogito ergo sum), was so certain and of such evidence that no ground of doubt, however extravagant, could be alleged by the sceptics capable of shaking it, I concluded that I might, without scruple, accept it as the first principle of the philosophy of which I was in search … I thence concluded that I was a substance whose whole essence or nature consists only in thinking, and which, that it may exist, has need of no place, nor is dependent on any material thing; so that ‘I’, that is to say, the mind by which I am what I am, is wholly distinct from the body, and is even more easily known than the latter …

in order to seek truth, it is necessary once in the course of our life, to doubt, as far as possible, of all things.

I doubt;
Therefore, I think
Therefore, I am.

I see;
I take in the colours around me.
The patterns, the lights, the rainbows.
I see the night and the stars that glow.

I dream;
Therefore, I think.
Therefore, I am.

I smell;
The perfumes, the roses.
The stench, the rotten and the putrid.
The aromas and delicacies;
Cooking.

I inhale;
The green, the forest, the trees.
Therefore, I think.
Therefore, I am.

I hear;
The noises. The people, the cheer.
The wails, the screams, the tears.
The rejoicing.
The laughter, and happiness.

I listen;
Therefore, I think.
Therefore, I am.

I taste;
The sweetness, the fire.
The treats, and savoury delights.
The burnt, the spoilt and the tasteless.
The sourness and the bitterness.

I eat;
Therefore, I think.
Therefore, I am.

I speak;
Short messages. Long speeches.
Quiet whispers. Bellowing noises.

I scream;
Therefore, I think,
Therefore, I am.

I feel;
The despair.
The anguish, the fear.
The pricks, the cuts, the injuries.
The joy. The pride. The seething.
The envy, greed, and jealousy.
The cold, the heat and the shivering.
The pain, the sickness, the ageing.

I die;
Therefore, I lived.
Therefore, I was.

Los orígenes del método están, según nos cuenta Descartes ( Discurso), en la lógica, el análisis geométrico y el álgebra. Conviene ante todo insistir en que el gravísimo defecto de la lógica de Aristóteles es, para Descartes, su incapacidad de invención.

Mr. Clerselier has written me that you are expecting from him my Meditations... in order to present them to the queen of the land. ...If I had only been as wise as they say the savages persuaded themselves that the monkeys were, I never would have become known as a maker of books: Since it is said that they imagined that the monkeys could indeed speak, if they wanted to, but that they chose not to so lest they be forced to work. And since I had not the same prudence to abstain from writing, I now have neither as much liesure nor as much peace as I would have had if I had kept quiet. But since the mistake has already been made, and since I am now known by an infinity of people at the academy, who look askance at my writings and scour them for means of harming me, I do have great hope of being known to persons of great merit, whose power and virtue could protect me.

Και μόνος με τον εαυτό μου, κοιτάζοντας βαθιά μέσα μου, θα προσπαθήσω να γνωρίσω καλύτερα τον εαυτό μου, με άλλα λόγια να εξοικειωθώ σιγά σιγά με εμένα τον ίδιο.

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

Je pense, donc je suis.

Of all things, good sense is the most fairly distributed: everyone thinks he is so well supplied with it that even those who are the hardest to satisfy in every other respect never desire more of it than they already have.