Rene Descartes
Rene Descartes
René Descarteswas a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. Dubbed the father of modern western philosophy, much of subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day. He spent about 20 years of his life in the Dutch Republic...
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth31 March 1596
CityIndre-et-Loire, France
world christianity
God alone is the author of all the motions in the world.
situations-in-life worthwhile-things judging
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.
success witty humorous
Each problem that I solved became a rule, which served afterwards to solve other problems.
thinking common-sense needs
Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.
believe laughing community
Any community that gets its laughs by pretending to be idiots will eventually be flooded by actual idiots who mistakenly believe that they're in good company.
ignorance discovery errors
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
believe greatness light
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.
education teacher errors
The chief cause of human errors is to be found in the prejudices picked up in childhood.
But possibly I am something more than I suppose myself to be.
atheism example belief
I was convinced that our beliefs are based much more on custom and example than on any certain knowledge.
wisdom book reading
The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.
encouragement philosophical simplicity
Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it.
life truth real
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.
world
We do not describe the world we see, we see the world we can describe.