René Descartes

Those who reason most powerfully and are the most successful at ordering their thoughts so as to make them clear and intelligible will always be best able to persuade others of what they say, even if they speak in the thickest of dialects.

—René Descartes

I undertook to conquer myself rather than fortune, and to alter my desires rather than change the order of the world, and to accustom myself to believe that nothing is entirely in our power except our own thoughts.

—René Descartes

Gratitude is a species of love, excited in us by some action of the person for whom we have it, and by which we believe that he has done some good to us, or at least that he has had the intention of doing so.

—René Descartes

The reading of all good books is indeed like a conversation with the noblest men of past centuries who were the authors of them, nay a carefully studied conversation, in which they reveal to us none but the best of their thoughts.

—René Descartes

Each problem that I solved became a rule, which served afterwards to solve other problems.

—René Descartes

The thinking of the mind is twofold: understanding and willing.

—René Descartes

The two operations of our understanding, intuition and deduction, on which alone we have said we must rely in the acquisition of knowledge.

—René Descartes

When it is not in our power to follow what is true, we ought to follow what is most probable.

—René Descartes

I desire to live in peace and to continue the life I have begun under the motto ‘to live well you must live unseen

—René Descartes

When it is not in our power to determine what is true, we ought to follow what is most probable.

—René Descartes

I undertook to conquer myself rather than fortune, and to alter my desires rather than change the order of the world, and to accustom myself to believe that nothing is entirely in our power except our own thoughts.

—René Descartes

It is only prudent never to place complete confidence in that by which we have even once been deceived.

—René Descartes

If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

—René Descartes

Gratitude is a species of love, excited in us by some action of the person for whom we have it, and by which we believe that he has done some good to us, or at least that he has had the intention of doing so.

—René Descartes

The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues

—René Descartes

There is nothing so strange and so unbelievable that it has not been said by one philosopher or another.

—René Descartes

Those who reason most powerfully and are the most successful at ordering their thoughts so as to make them clear and intelligible will always be best able to persuade others of what they say, even if they speak in the thickest of dialects.

—René Descartes

it is a mark of prudence never to place our complete trust in those who have deceived us even once.

—René Descartes

Hope is the desire of the soul to be convinced that the dream will come true.

—René Descartes

If you want to develop your mind you should think more, not repeat.

—René Descartes

It is enough that I can understand one thing, clearly and distinctly, without another in order to be certain that one thing is distinct from the other.

—René Descartes

I am indeed amazed when I consider how weak my mind is and how prone to error.

—René Descartes

The reading of all good books is indeed like a conversation with the noblest men of past centuries who were the authors of them, nay a carefully studied conversation, in which they reveal to us none but the best of their thoughts.

—René Descartes

Conquer yourself rather than the world.

—René Descartes

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.

—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

Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it.

—René Descartes

It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well. It is not good enough to have good talent, the main thing is to apply it well

—René Descartes

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

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

—René Descartes