Me tenant comme je suis, un pied dans un pays et l'autre en un autre, je trouve ma condition très heureuse, en ce qu'elle est libre. - René Descartes

"Instead of René Descartes' famous "Cogito ergo sum" (I think, therefore I am), I propose "Communico ergo sum," (I communicate, therefore I exist") as the philosophical proof of man's existence.

I could give here several other ways of tracing and conceiving a series of curved lines, each curve more complex than any preceding one, but I think the best way to group together all such curves and them classify them in order, is by recognizing the fact that all points of those curves which we may call "geometric," that is, those which admit of precise and exact measurement, must bear a definite relation to all points of a straight line, and that this relation must be expressed by a single equation. If this equation contains no term of higher degree than the rectangle of two unknown quantities, or the square of one, the curve belongs to the first and simplest class, which contains only the circle, the parabola, the hyperbola, and the ellipse; but when the equation contains one or more terms of the third or fourth degree in one or both of the two unknown quantities (for it requires two unknown quantities to express the relation between two points) the curve belongs to the second class; and if the equation contains a term of the fifth or sixth degree in either or both of the unknown quantities the curve belongs to the third class, and so on indefinitely.

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.