"We do not describe the world we see, we see the world we can describe."
"As I considered the matter carefully it gradually came to light that all those matters only were referred to mathematics in which order and measurements are investigated, and that it makes no difference whether it be in numbers, figures, stars, sounds or any other object that the question of measurement arises. I saw consequently that there must be some general science to explain that element as a whole which gives rise to problems about order and measurement, restricted as these are to no special subject matter. This, I perceived was called 'universal mathematics'."
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Source: Rene Descartes, Elizabeth Sanderson Haldane, G. R. T. Ross (2003). “Discourse on Method and Meditations”, p.94, Courier Corporation
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More quotes by Rene Descartes
"Whenever anyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offense cannot reach it."
"It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well."
"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."
"By 'God', I understand, a substance which is infinite, independent, supremely intelligent, supremely powerful, and which created both myself and everything else [...] that exists. All these attributes are such that, the more carefully I concentrate on them, the less possible it seems that they could have originated from me alone. So, from what has been said it must be concluded that God necessarily exists."
"De omnibus dubitandum"