René Descartes Quotes

. . .it is not my design to teach the method that everyone must follow in order to use his reason properly, but only to show the way in which I have tried to use my own.

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 …

Conquer yourself rather than the world.

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

it appears to me that I have discovered many truths more useful and more important than all I had before learned, or even had expected to learn.

Je pense, donc je suis; English: I think, therefore I am)

I think; therefore I am.

Το ανθρώπινο σώμα αντιμετωπίζεται ως μια μηχανή με την ικανότητα της κίνησης

I was aware that 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 thoughts.

For to be possessed of a vigorous mind is not enough; the prime requisite is rightly to apply it. The greatest minds, as they are capable of the highest excellence, 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.

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...

Nature teaches me that so many other bodies exist around mine of which some are to be avoided, some sought after.

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.

"‎"Não há nada que dominemos inteiramente a nao ser os nossos pensamentos.

我思う故に我あり