Rene Descartes (1596–1650 ) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science.
Mathematics was central to his method of inquiry, and he connected the previously separate fields of geometry and algebra into analytic geometry.
Here is A selection of some of Rene Descartes most famous quotes: Top 25 Rene Descartes quotes. Rene Descartes Quotes about Life, Education and Doubt, Self. Quotes about Science, Truth and More by Rene Descartes.
Rene Descartes Quotes and Sayings
The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of past centuries.
Conquer yourself rather than the world.
If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.
I think, therefore I am.
Doubt is the origin of wisdom.
Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.
Common sense is the most widely shared commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it.
It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.
And thus, the actions of life often not allowing any delay, it is a truth very certain that, when it is not in our power to determine the most true opinions we ought to follow the most probable.
To know what people really think, pay attention to what they do, rather than what they say.
The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues.
Masked, I advance.
I desire to live in peace and to continue the life I have begun under the motto to live well you must live unseen.
It is only prudent never to place complete confidence in that by which we have even once been deceived.
But in my opinion, all things in nature occur mathematically.
You just keep pushing. You just keep pushing. I made every mistake that could be made. But I just kept pushing.
To live without philosophizing is in truth the same as keeping the eyes closed without attempting to open them.
In order to seek truth, it is necessary once in the course of our life to doubt, as far as possible, of all things.
I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am
There is nothing more ancient than the truth.
Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it.
In order to improve the mind, we ought less to learn than to contemplate.
He who hid well, lived well.
Each problem that I solved became a rule, which served afterwards to solve other problems.
For I found myself embarrassed with so many doubts and errors that it seemed to me that the effort to instruct myself had no effect other than the increasing discovery of my own ignorance.
At last I will devote myself sincerely and without reservation to the general demolition of my opinions.
With me, everything turns into mathematics.
Let whoever can do so deceive me, he will never bring it about that I am nothing, so long as I continue to think I am something.
Because reason... is the only thing that makes us men, and distinguishes us from the beasts, I would prefer to believe that it exists, in its entirety, in each of us.
Good sense is the most equitably distributed of all things because no matter how much or little a person has, everyone feels so abundantly provided with good sense that he feels no desire for more than he already possesses.
The reading of all good books is indeed like a conversation with the noblest men of past centuries who were the authors of them, nay a carefully studied conversation, in which they reveal to us none but the best of their thoughts.
So blind is the curiosity by which mortals are possessed, that they often conduct their minds along unexplored routes, having no reason to hope for success, but merely being willing to risk the experiment of finding whether the truth they seek lies there.
Bad books engender bad habits, but bad habits engender good books.
I am accustomed to sleep and in my dreams to imagine the same things that lunatics imagine when awake.
But what then am I? A thing that thinks. What is that? A thing that doubts, understand, affirms, denies, wills, refuses, and that also imagines and senses.
It is best not to go on for great quest for truth, it will only make you miserable.
Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.
I am thing that thinks: that is, a things that doubts, affirms, denies, understands a few things, is ignorant of many things, is willing, is unwilling, and also which imagines and has sensory perceptions.
The destruction of the foundations necessarily brings down the whole edifice.
The dreams we imagine when we are asleep should not in any way make us doubt the truth of the thoughts we have when we are awake.
Whenever anyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offense cannot reach it.
The first precept was never to accept a thing as true until I knew it as such without a single doubt.
For the very fact that my knowledge is increasing little by little is the most certain argument for its imperfection.
One should never judge anything unless it is known.
I had become aware, as early as my college days, that no opinion, however absurd and incredible can be imagined, that has not been held by one of the philosophers.
My third maxim was to try always to master myself rather than fortune and change my desires rather than changing how things stand in the world.
They do everything in their power to make fortune favor them in this life, but nevertheless they think so little of it, in relation to eternity, that they view the events of the world as we do those of a play.
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.
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, one must live unseen.
The last rule was to make enumerations so complete, and reviews so comprehensive, that I should be certain of omitting nothing.
Truths are more likely to have been discovered by one man than by nation.
I took especially great pleasure in mathematics because of the certainty and the evidence of its arguments.
Nothing is made from nothing.
Mind and soul of the man is entirely different from the body.
That we conduct our thoughts along different ways, and do not fix our attention on the same objects.
The will determines itself; it should not be described as blind, any more than vision should be described as deaf.
He who lives well lives well hidden.
So far, I have been a spectator in this theatre which is the world, but I am now about to mount the stage, and I come forward masked.
In order to determine whether we can know anything with certainty, we first have to doubt everything we know.
All that is necessary to right action is right judgment, and to the best action the most correct judgment.
We ought not meanwhile to make use of doubt in the conduct of life.
To attain the truth in life, we must discard all the ideas we were taught.
Man, being finite in nature can only have knowledge perfectness of which is limited.
It is a common failing of mortals to deem the more difficult the fairer.
Nature teaches me that so many other bodies exist around mine of which some are to be avoided, some sought after.
it appears to me that I have discovered many truths more useful and more important than all I had before learned, or even had expected to learn.
I will follow this strategy until I discover something that is certain or, at least, until I discover that it is certain only that nothing is certain.
Is there anything more intimate or more internal than pain?
If I find some reason for doubt in each of my beliefs, that will be enough to reject all of them.
A state is better governed which has few laws, and those laws strictly observed.
We do not describe the world we see, we see the world we can describe.
One needs to know what thought is, what existence is and what certainty is.
Travelling is almost like talking with those of other centuries.
The two operations of our understanding, intuition and deduction, on which alone we have said we must rely in the acquisition of knowledge.
I hope that posterity will judge me kindly, not only as to the things which I have explained, but also to those which I have intentionally omitted so as to leave to others the pleasure of discovery.
Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it.
How can you be certain that your whole life is not a dream?
Perfect numbers like perfect men are very rare.
There is nothing so strange and so unbelievable that it has not been said by one philosopher or another.
An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist always run to blow it out?
The chief cause of human errors is to be found in the prejudices picked up in childhood.
Everything is self-evident.
The senses deceive from time to time, and it is prudent never to trust wholly those who have deceived us even once.
Illusory joy is often worth more than genuine sorrow.
One cannot conceive anything so strange and so implausible that it has not already been said by one philosopher or another.
I am indeed amazed when I consider how weak my mind is and how prone to error.
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