Intelectualism Quotes

“Rembrandt reinterpreted the Bible in the light of human experience, but it was an emotional response, based on a belief in revealing the truth. The greatest of his contemporaries were looking for a different kind of truth—a truth that could be established by intellectual, rather than emotional, means. This could be done either by the accumulation of observed evidence or by mathematics, and of the two, mathematics seemed to offer the men of the 17th century the more attractive solution. In fact, mathematics became a kind of new religion to the finest minds of the time, the means of expressing a belief that experience could be married with reason. The guiding spirit of this new religion was the French philosopher Descartes. He has become a symbol of pure intellect. He started life as a soldier and wrote a book on fencing, but he soon discovered that all he wanted to do was think—something very, very rare and most unpopular. Some friends came to call on him at eleven o'clock in the morning and found him in bed. They asked, "What are you doing?" He replied, "Thinking.”
― Kenneth M. Clark, Civilisation