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Rene Descartes

12 quotes

Details about Rene Descartes's life are scarce, but their observations have traveled far and wide. The range of their thinking — from Power to Good — speaks to an intellectual restlessness that shows in every quote. Discover 14 of Rene Descartes's most memorable quotes, ranging across Power, Good, Truth, Trust, and Time. To get a sense of their style, try: "The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries."

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

— Rene Descartes

Science

All Quotes by Rene Descartes

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

— Rene Descartes

Power

“The senses deceive from time to time, and it is prudent never to trust wholly those who have deceived us even once.”

— Rene Descartes

Time

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

— Rene Descartes

Science

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

— Rene Descartes

Amazing

“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.”

— Rene Descartes

Truth

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

— Rene Descartes

Power

“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

Hope

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

— Rene Descartes

Good

“Perfect numbers like perfect men are very rare.”

— Rene Descartes

Men

“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

Alone

“I am accustomed to sleep and in my dreams to imagine the same things that lunatics imagine when awake.”

— Rene Descartes

Dreams

“The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.”

— Rene Descartes

Good