One cannot conceive anything so strange and so implausible that it has not already been said by one philosopher or another.
—Rene Descartes
Topics: Philosophy
Thus even in the very example my critics produce, it is the intellect alone which corrects the error of the senses; and it is not possible to produce any case which error results from our trusting the operation of the mind more than the senses.
—Rene Descartes
Illusory joy is often worth more than genuine sorrow.
—Rene Descartes
It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well.
—Rene Descartes
Topics: Letters, Love, Thinking
We never understand a thing so well, and make it our own, as when we have discovered it for ourselves.
—Rene Descartes
Topics: Self-Discovery
Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it.
—Rene Descartes
Topics: Difficulty, Simplicity
In order to improve the mind, we ought less to learn, than to contemplate.
—Rene Descartes
Topics: Wisdom
The only secure knowledge is that I exist
—Rene Descartes
Topics: One liners, Philosophy
I am accustomed to sleep, and in my dreams to imagine the same things that lunatics imagine when awake.
—Rene Descartes
Topics: Sleep, Dreams
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.
—Rene Descartes
Topics: Reading, Wisdom, Learning
To know what people really think, pay regard to what they do, rather than what they say.
—Rene Descartes
Topics: Manners, Behavior
Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.
—Rene Descartes
Topics: Thinking, Thoughts, Thought
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz German Philosopher, Mathematician
Thales of Miletus Greek Philosopher, Mathematician
Karl Popper Austrian-born British Philosopher
Baruch Spinoza Dutch Philosopher
Blaise Pascal French Philosopher, Scientist
Francis Bacon English Philosopher
John Locke English Philosopher
Anaxagoras Greek Philosopher
Jacques Derrida French Philosopher, Literary Theorist
Hilary Putnam American Philosopher