"We do not describe the world we see, we see the world we can describe."
"Here I beg you to observe in passing that the scruples that prevented ancient writers from using arithmetical terms in geometry, and which can only be a consequence of their inability to perceive clearly the relation between these two subjects, introduced much obscurity and confusion into their explanations."
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Source: Principia Philosophiae pt. 2, sec. 16 (1644)
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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"