René Descartes Quotes

The first was never to accept anything for true which I did not clearly know to be such; that is to say, carefully to avoid precipitancy and prejudice, and to comprise nothing more in my judgment than what was presented to my mind so clearly and distinctly as to exclude all ground of doubt.

In order to determine whether we can know anything with certainty, we first have to doubt everything we know

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

The thinking of the mind is twofold: understanding and willing.

to live well you must live
unseen

Those who reason most powerfully and are the most successful at ordering their thoughts so as to make them clear and intelligible will always be best able to persuade others of what they say, even if they speak in the thickest of dialects

The last rule was to make enumerations so complete, and reviews so comprehensive, that I should be certain of omitting nothing.

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. And in this it is not likely that all are mistaken the conviction is rather to be held as testifying that the power of judging aright and of distinguishing truth from error, which is properly what is called good sense or reason, is by nature equal in all men; and that the diversity of our opinions, consequently, does not arise from some being endowed with a larger share of reason than others, but solely from this, that we conduct our thoughts along different ways, and do not fix our attention on the same objects. 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 excellences, 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.

Truths are more likely to have been discovered by one man than by nation

Like a prisoner who dreams that he is free, starts to
suspect that it is merely a dream, and wants to go on
dreaming rather than waking up, so I am content to
slide back into my old opinions; I fear being shaken out
of them because I am afraid that my peaceful sleep may
be followed by hard labour when I wake, and that I
shall have to struggle not in the light but in the
imprisoning darkness of the problems I have raised.

I took especially great pleasure in mathematics because of the certainty and the evidence of its arguments.

Il buon senso è la cosa meglio distribuita al mondo. Ciascuno infatti pensa di esserne così ben provvisto che anche coloro che di tutte le altre cose non si contentano mai, di questa sono soliti non volerne più di quanto ne hanno.

Nothing is made from nothing.

It is useful to know something of the manners of different nations, that we may be enabled to form a more correct judgment regarding our own, and be prevented from thinking that everything contrary to our customs is ridiculous and irrational, a conclusion usually come to by those whose experience has been limited to their own country.

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