Rene Descartes Quotes
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The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues.
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But in my opinion, all things in nature occur mathematically.
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Doubt is the origin of wisdom.
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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.
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Perfect numbers like perfect men are very rare.
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We do not describe the world we see, we see the world we can describe.
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Truths are more likely to be discovered by one man than by a nation.
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I desire to live in peace and to continue the life I have begun under the motto 'to live well you must live unseen.
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Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.
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Mathematics is a more powerful instrument of knowledge than any other that has been bequeathed to us by human agency.
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On the one hand I have a clear and distinct idea of myself, in so far as I am a thinking, non-extended thing; and on the other hand I have a distinct idea of body, in so far a this is simply an extended, non-thinking thing. And, accordingly, it is certain that I am really distinct from my body, and exist without it.
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I am indeed amazed when I consider how weak my mind is and how prone to error.
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Common sense is the best distributed thing in the world, for we all think we possess a good share of it.
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The principal effect of the passions is that they incite and persuade the mind to will the events for which they prepared the body.
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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.
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Even if I were to suppose that I was dreaming and whatever I saw or imagined was false, yet I could not deny that ideas were truly in my mind.
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Each problem that I solved became a rule, which served afterwards to solve other problems.
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In God there is an infinitude of things which I cannot comprehend, nor possibly even reach in any way by thought; for it is the nature of the infinite that my nature, which is finite and limited, should not comprehend it.
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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.
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There is a great difference between mind and body insomuch as body is by nature always divisible, and the mind is entirely indivisible.
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Common sense is the most widely shared commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it.
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Archimedes, that he might transport the entire globe ... demanded only a point that was firm and immovable; so also, I shall be entitled to entertain the highest expectations, if I am fortunate enough to discover only one thing that is certain and indubitable.
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Conquer yourself rather than the world.
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The only thing that I know, is that I know nothing.