The first precept was never to accept a thing as true until I knew it as such without a single doubt.

Quote by Rene Descartes

Topics: Rene Descartes Quotes

If I found any new truths in the sciences, I can say that they follow...

If I found any new truths in the sciences, I can say that they follow...

Perfect numbers like perfect men are very rare.

Perfect numbers like perfect men are very rare.

One cannot conceive anything so strange and so implausible that it has not already been...

One cannot conceive anything so strange and so implausible that it has not already been...

An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist...

An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist...

I think; therefore I am.

I think; therefore I am.

Illusory joy is often worth more than genuine sorrow.

Illusory joy is often worth more than genuine sorrow.

I think therefore I exist.

I think therefore I exist.

When I consider this carefully, I find not a single property which with certainty separates...

When I consider this carefully, I find not a single property which with certainty separates...

Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.

Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.

The two operations of our understanding, intuition and deduction, on which alone we have said...

The two operations of our understanding, intuition and deduction, on which alone we have said...

Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.

Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.

Whenever anyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the...

Whenever anyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the...

Illusory joy is often worth more than genuine sorrow.

Illusory joy is often worth more than genuine sorrow.

Good sense is of all things in the world the most equally distributed, for everybody...

Good sense is of all things in the world the most equally distributed, for everybody...

Of all things, good sense is the most fairly distributed: everyone thinks he is so...

Of all things, good sense is the most fairly distributed: everyone thinks he is so...

Everybody thinks himself so well supplied with common sense that even those most difficult to...

Everybody thinks himself so well supplied with common sense that even those most difficult to...

Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it.

Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it.

I am indeed amazed when I consider how weak my mind is and how prone...

I am indeed amazed when I consider how weak my mind is and how prone...

In order to improve the mind, we ought less to learn, than to contemplate.

In order to improve the mind, we ought less to learn, than to contemplate.

I hope that posterity will judge me kindly, not only as to the things which...

I hope that posterity will judge me kindly, not only as to the things which...