The brutes, which have only their bodies to conserve, are continually occupied in seeking sources of nourishment; but men, of whom the chief part is … - René Descartes

Always to seek to conquer myself rather than fortune, to change my desires rather than the order of the world, and generally to believe that nothing except our thoughts is wholly under our control, so that after we have done our best in external matters, what remains to be done is absolutely impossible, at least as far as we are concerned.

The whole force of the argument rests on the fact that I recognize that it would be impossible for me to exist, being of such a
nature as I am (namely, having in me the idea of God), unless God did
in fact exist. God, I say, that same being the idea of whom is in me: a
being having all those perfections that I cannot comprehend, but can
somehow touch with my thought, and a being subject to no defects
whatever. From these considerations it is quite obvious that he cannot be
a deceiver, for it is manifest by the light of nature that all fraud and
deception depend on some defect

Και εκείνοι που σκαρφίζονται τις πιο ευχάριστες ιστορίες και μπορούν να τις αφηγηθούν πολύ γλυκά και περίτεχνα, θα είναι πάντα οι καλύτεροι ποιητές, έστω και αν η ποιητική τένη τους είναι άγνωστη.