You just keep pushing. You just keep pushing. I made every mistake that could be made. But I just kept pushing. Rene Descartes More Quotes by Rene Descartes More Quotes From Rene Descartes I did not imitate the skeptics who doubt only for doubting's sake, and pretend to be always undecided; on the contrary, my whole intention was to arrive at a certainty, and to dig away the drift and the sand until I reached the rock or the clay beneath. Rene Descartes clay rocks doubt 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. Rene Descartes judging use desire When writing about transcendental issues, be transcendentally clear. Rene Descartes issues math writing The object of music is a Sound. The end; to delight, and move various Affections in us. Rene Descartes music sound moving Intuition is the undoubting conception of a pure and attentive mind, which arises from the light of reason alone, and is more certain than deduction. Rene Descartes intuition light mind I am thing that thinks: that is, a things that doubts,affirms, denies, understands a few things, is ignorant of many things, is willing, is unwilling, and also which imagines and has sensory perceptions. Rene Descartes perception life thinking 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. Rene Descartes grateful taken thinking 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. Rene Descartes risk curiosity lying If we possessed a thorough knowledge of all the parts of the seed of any animal (e.g. man), we could from that alone, be reasons entirely mathematical and certain, deduce the whole conformation and figure of each of its members, and, conversely if we knew several peculiarities of this conformation, we would from those deduce the nature of its seed. Rene Descartes nature math animal Common sense is the best distributed thing in the world, for we all think we possess a good share of it. Rene Descartes common-sense world thinking I hope that posterity will judge me kindly, not only as to the things which I have explained, but also to those which I have intentionally omitted so as to leave to others the pleasure of discovery. Rene Descartes math discovery science And thereby make ourselves, as it were, the lords and masters of nature. Rene Descartes masters lord science 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'. Rene Descartes stars light science There is nothing so strange and so unbelievable that it has not been said by one philosopher or another. Rene Descartes philosopher strange said ... regard this body as a machine which, having been made by the hand of God, is incomparably better ordered than any machine that can be devised by man, and contains in itself movements more wonderful than those in any machine. ... it is for all practical purposes impossible for a machine to have enough organs to make it act in all the contingencies of life in the way in which our reason makes us act. Rene Descartes purpose men hands For to be possessed of a vigorous mind is not enough; the prime requisite is rightly to apply it. Rene Descartes statistics enough mind 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. Rene Descartes perfect joy believe 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. Rene Descartes body perfect dream Sensations are nothing but confused modes of thinking. Rene Descartes sensations confused thinking 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. Rene Descartes hands ideas thinking
