Rene Descartes Quotes
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I experienced in myself a certain capacity for judging which I have doubtless received from God, like all the other things that I possess; and as He could not desire to deceive me, it is clear that He has not given me a faculty that will lead me to err if I use it aright.
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As I considered the matter carefully it gradually came to light that all those matters only were referred to mathematics in which order and measurements are investigated, and that it makes no difference whether it be in numbers, figures, stars, sounds or any other object that the question of measurement arises. I saw consequently that there must be some general science to explain that element as a whole which gives rise to problems about order and measurement, restricted as these are to no special subject matter. This, I perceived was called 'universal mathematics'.
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De omnibus dubitandum.
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Instead I ought to be grateful to Him who never owed me anything for having been so generous to me, rather than think that He deprived me of those things or has taken away from me whatever He did not give me.
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Although my knowledge grows more and more, nevertheless I do not for that reason believe that it can ever be actually infinite, since it can never reach a point so high that it will be unable to attain any greater increase.
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Omnia apud me mathematica fiunt.
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Wonder is the first of all the passions.
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Sensations are nothing but confused modes of thinking.
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If I simply refrain from making a judgment in cases where I do not perceive the truth with sufficient clarity and distinctness, then it is clear that I am behaving correctly and avoiding error.
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I was convinced that our beliefs are based much more on custom and example than on any certain knowledge.
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...it is certain that I am really distinct from my body, and can exist without it.
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Divide each difficulty at hand into as many pieces as possible and as could be required to better solve them.
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Desire awakens only to things that are thought possible.
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Now therefore, that my mind is free from all cares, and that I have obtained for myself assured leisure in peaceful solitude, I shall apply myself seriously and freely to the general destruction of all my former opinions.
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Science is practical philosophy.
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A state is better governed which has few laws, and those laws strictly observed.
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Whenever anyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offense cannot reach it.
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The only secure knowledge is that I exist.
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We call infinite that thing whose limits we have not perceived, and so by that word we do not signify what we understand about a thing, but rather what we do not understand.
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Hence reason also demands that, since our thoughts cannot all be true because we are not wholly perfect, what truth they do possess must inevitably be found in the thoughts we have when awake, rather than in our dreams.
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God alone is the author of all the motions in the world.
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And as it is the most generous souls who have most gratitude, it is those who have most pride, and who are most base and infirm, who most allow themselves to be carried away by anger and hatred.
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In the matter of a difficult question it is more likely that the truth should have been discovered by the few than by the many.
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The only thing we have power over in the universe is our own thoughts.