To live without philosophizing is in truth the same as keeping the eyes closed without attempting to open them. - René Descartes

I resolv’d to faign, that all those things which ever entred into my Minde, were no more true, then the illusions of my dreams.

Remembering, however, as I have already said, that the natural light is to be
trusted only in so far as nothing to the contrary is revealed by God Himself. …
Moreover, it must be fixed in one's memory as the highest rule, that what has
been revealed to us by God is to be believed as the most certain of all things;
and even though the light of reason should seem most clearly to suggest
something else, we must nevertheless give creedence to the divine authority
only, rather than our own judgment. (Principia philosophiae, pars prima 28 and
76.)

Πράγματι, δεν αρκεί να διαθέτουμε ισχυρό πνέυμα: σημασία έχει να ξέρουμε να το χρησιμοποιούμε σωστά. Τα μεγαλύτερα πνεύματα μπορεί να έχουν τα σοβαρότερα ελαττώματα όπως και τις σπουδαιότερες αρετές, και εκείνοι που προχωρούν πολύ αργά, αν ακολουθούν πάντα τον σωστό δρόμο, μπορούν να διανύσουν μια διαδρομή πολύ μεγαλύτερη απ' ό,τι εκείνοι που τρέχουν, όμως απομακρύνονται από αυτόν.