Rene Descartes Quotes
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But I cannot forget that, at other times I have been deceived in sleep by similar illusions; and, attentively considering those cases, I perceive so clearly that there exist no certain marks by which the state of waking can ever be distinguished from sleep, that I feel greatly astonished; and in amazement I almost persuade myself that I am now dreaming.
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Just as we believe by faith that the greatest happiness of the next life consists simply in the contemplation of this divine majesty, likewise we experience that we derive the greatest joy of which we are capable in this life from the same contemplation, even though it is much less perfect.
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Variant: When it is not in our power to follow what is true, we ought to follow what is most probable.
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There is a little gland in the brain in which the soul exercises its functions in a more particular way than in the other parts.
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It is possible that I am dreaming right now and that all of my perceptions are false.
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Common sense is the most fairly distributed thing in the world, for each one thinks he is so well-endowed with it that even those who are hardest to satisfy in all other matters are not in the habit of desiring more of it than they already have.
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Bad books engender bad habits, but bad habits engender good books.
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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.
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When writing about transcendental issues, be transcendentally clear.
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We never understand a thing so well,and make it our own, as when we have discovered it for ourselves.
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I know that I exist; the question is, What is this 'I' that 'I' know.
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Everybody thinks himself so well supplied with common sense that even those most difficult to please. . . never desire more of it than they already have.
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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 th eincreasing discovery of my own ignorance.
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Everything is self-evident.
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With me, everything turns into mathematics.
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He lives well who is well hidden.
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Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.
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For to be possessed of a vigorous mind is not enough; the prime requisite is rightly to apply it.
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And thereby make ourselves, as it were, the lords and masters of nature.
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The entire method consists in the order and arrangement of the things to which the mind's eye must turn so that we can discover some truth.
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The first precept was never to accept a thing as true until I knew it as such without a single doubt.
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The only thing we have power over in the universe is our own thoughts.
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Desire awakens only to things that are thought possible.
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Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the self-same well from which your laughter rises was often-times filled with your tears.