William of Conches Quotes

William of Conches was a French scholastic philosopher who sought to expand the bounds of Christian humanism by studying secular works of the classics and fostering empirical science. He was a prominent member of the School of Chartres. John of Salisbury, a bishop of Chartres and former student of William's, refers to William as the most talented grammarian after Bernard of Chartres.

No corporeal substance can be so subtle and swift as this.

William of Conches
- Substance
- Subtle
- Swift
Rejoicing not in the many but in the probity of the few, we toil for truth alone.

William of Conches
- Truth
- Rejoicing
- Probity

Because they know not the forces of nature, and in order that they may have comrades in their ignorance, they suffer not that others should search out anything, and would have us believe like rustics and ask no reason... But we ask in all things a reason must be sought.

William of Conches
- Believe
- Nature
- Reason
[They say] "We do not know how this is, but we know that God can do it." You poor fools! God can make a cow out of a tree, but has He ever done so? Therefore show some reason why a thing is so, or cease to hold that it is so.

William of Conches
- God
- Reason
- Cow