I know not if I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or if I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man. Rene Descartes More Quotes by Rene Descartes More Quotes From Rene Descartes I suppose therefore that all things I see are illusions; I believe that nothing has ever existed of everything my lying memory tells me. I think I have no senses. I believe that body, shape, extension, motion, location are functions. What is there then that can be taken as true? Perhaps only this one thing, that nothing at all is certain. Rene Descartes memoriesbelievelying I desire to live in peace and to continue the life I have begun under the motto 'to live well you must live unseen Rene Descartes unseenmottodesire Neither divine grace nor natural knowledge ever diminishes freedom. Rene Descartes divinegracenatural 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. Rene Descartes difficult-questionstruthshould-have The greatest minds, as they are capable of the highest excellencies, are open likewise to the greatest aberrations; and those who travel very slowly may yet make far greater progress, provided they keep always to the straight road, than those who, while they run, forsake it. Rene Descartes progressmindrunning But in my opinion, all things in nature occur mathematically. Rene Descartes opinionall-things Thus each truth discovered was a rule available in the discovery of subsequent ones. Rene Descartes availablestatisticsdiscovery Intuitive knowledge is an illumination of the soul, whereby it beholds in the light of God those things which it pleases Him to reveal to us by a direct impression of divine clearness. Rene Descartes illuminationlightsoul 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 Rene Descartes errorsignorancediscovery I can doubt everything, except one thing, and that is the very fact that I doubt. Simply put - I think, therefore I am Rene Descartes geniusdoubtthinking 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. Rene Descartes deceivinglongthinking 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. Rene Descartes ontologylogicbelieve Variant: When it is not in our power to follow what is true, we ought to follow what is most probable. Rene Descartes probable-causeprobabilityphilosophical A person has two passions for love and abhorrence. A big disposition to excessiveness has just a love, because it is more ardent and stronger. Rene Descartes passionlove-istwo The two operations of our understanding, intuition and deduction, on which alone we have said we must rely in the acquisition of knowledge. Rene Descartes understandingmathtwo The only secure knowledge is that I exist. Rene Descartes securephilosophical For how do we know that the thoughts which occur in dreaming are false rather than those others which we experience when awake, since the former are often not less vivid and distinct than the latter? Rene Descartes lattervividdream Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has. Rene Descartes common-senseneedsthinking The principal effect of the passions is that they incite and persuade the mind to will the events for which they prepared the body. Rene Descartes passioneventsmind With me, everything turns into mathematics. Rene Descartes mathematicalmathematicsmath
