"I know that I exist; the question is, What is this 'I' that 'I' know."
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Rene Descartes quotes (page 2 of 8)
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"Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power."
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"It is possible that I am dreaming right now and that all of my perceptions are false."
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"Mathematics is a more powerful instrument of knowledge than any other that has been bequeathed to us by human agency."
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"Situations in life often permit no delay; and when we cannot determine the course which is certainly best, we must follow the one which is probably the best. This frame of mind freed me also from the repentance and remorse commonly felt by those vacillating individuals who are always seeking as worthwhile things which they later judge to be bad."
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"Before examining this more carefully and investigating its consequences, I want to dwell for a moment in the contemplation of God, to ponder His attributes in me, to see, admire, and adore the beauty of His boundless light, insofar as my clouded insight allows. Believing that the supreme happiness of the other life consists wholly of the contemplation of divine greatness, I now find that through less perfect contemplation of the same sort I can gain the greatest joy available in this life."
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"Each problem that I solved became a rule, which served afterwards to solve other problems."
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"I think; therefore I am."
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"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 th eincreasing discovery of my own ignorance"
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"In philosophy, when we make use of false principles, we depart the farther from the knowledge of truth and wisdom exactly in proportion to the care with which we cultivate them, and apply ourselves to the deduction of diverse consequences from them, thinking that we are philosophizing well, while we are only departing the farther from the truth; from which it must be inferred that they who have learned the least of all that has been hitherto distinguished by the name of philosophy are the most fitted for the apprehension of truth."
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"Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has."
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"The only secure knowledge is that I exist."
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"A state is better governed which has few laws, and those laws strictly observed."
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"Truths are more likely to be discovered by one man than by a nation"
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"He who hid well, lived well."
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"I was convinced that our beliefs are based much more on custom and example than on any certain knowledge."
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"Perfect numbers like perfect men are very rare."
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"Reason is nothing without imagination."
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"God alone is the author of all the motions in the world."
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"Wonder is the first of all the passions."
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