René Descartes > Quotes

“I think; therefore I am.”
― Rene Descartes

“The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of past centuries.”
― René Descartes

“Cogito ergo sum. (I think, therefore I am.)”
― René Descartes

“If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.”
― René Descartes

“Conquer yourself rather than the world.”
― René 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

“Doubt is the origin of wisdom”
― Rene Descartes

“Common sense is the most widely shared commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it.”
― Rene Descartes

“Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.”
― René Descartes

“It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.”
― Descartes

“To know what people really think, pay attention to what they do, rather than what they say.”
― Descartes

“The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues.”
― Rene Descartes

“And thus, the actions of life often not allowing any delay, it is a truth very certain that, when it is not in our power to determine the most true opinions we ought to follow the most probable.”
― Rene Descartes, Discourse on Method

“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, The Principles Of Philosophy

“Masked, I advance.”
― Rene Descartes

“You just keep pushing. You just keep pushing. I made every mistake that could be made. But I just kept pushing.”
― René Descartes

“It is only prudent never to place complete confidence in that by which we have even once been deceived.”
― René Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy

“Dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum.

(English: "I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am")”
― Rene Descartes (Principles of Philosophy)

“But in my opinion, all things in nature occur mathematically.”
― Rene Decartes

“To live without philosophizing is in truth the same as keeping the eyes closed without attempting to open them.”
― René Descartes

“Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it.”
― René Descartes, Discourse on Method

“In order to seek truth, it is necessary once in the course of our life to doubt, as far as possible, of all things.”
― René Descartes

“There is nothing more ancient than the truth.”
― Rene Descartes

“In order to improve the mind, we ought less to learn than to contemplate.”
― Rene Descartes

“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 the increasing discovery of my own ignorance”
― Rene Descartes

“He who hid well, lived well.”
― Rene Descartes

“Each problem that I solved became a rule which served afterwards to solve other problems”
― René Descartes

“Dubium sapientiae initium. (Doubt is the origin of wisdom.)”
― Rene Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy

“At last I will devote myself sincerely and without reservation to the general demolition of my opinions.”
― Rene Descartes, Discourse on Method

“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.”
― Descartes René 1596-1650