Υποθέτω ότι το σώμα δεν είναι παρά ένα άγαλμα ή μια μηχανή από πηλό, την οποία ο Θεός δημιουργεί με σαφή πρόθεση να μοιαζει όσο το δυνατόν περισσότερ… - René Descartes

The majority of men is composed of two classes, for neither of which would this be at all a befitting resolution: in the first place, of those who with more than a due confidence in their own powers, are precipitate in their judgments and want the patience requisite for orderly and circumspect thinking; whence it happens, that if men of this class once take the liberty to doubt of their accustomed opinions, and quit the beaten highway, they will never be able to thread the byway that would lead them by a shorter course, and will lose themselves and continue to wander for life; in the second place, of those who, possessed of sufficient sense or modesty to determine that there are others who excel them in the power of discriminating between truth and error, and by whom they may be instructed, ought rather to content themselves with the opinions of such than trust for more correct to their own reason.

For ’tis not enough to have good faculties, but the principal is, to apply them well.

hay pocas personas que consientan en decir lo que creen, sino también porque muchas lo ignoran, pues el acto del pensamiento, por el cual uno cree una cosa, es diferente de aquel otro por el cual uno conoce que la cree,