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
books books-and-reading conversation finest good men past reading
The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of past centuries.
book reading men
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.
believe men beast
Because reason...is the only thing that makes us men, and distinguishes us from the beasts, I would prefer to believe that it exists, in its entirety, in each of us...
men thinking desire
Good sense is, of all things among men, the most equally distributed; for every one thinks himself so abundantly provided with it, that those even who are the most difficult to satisfy in everything else, do not usually desire a larger measure of this quality than they already possess.
humorous men common-sense
Common sense is the most widely shared commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it.
men animal thorough-knowledge
If we possessed a thorough knowledge of all the parts of the seed of any animal (e.g. man), we could from that alone, be reasons entirely mathematical and certain, deduce the whole conformation and figure of each of its members, and, conversely if we knew several peculiarities of this conformation, we would from those deduce the nature of its seed.
math men numbers
Perfect numbers like perfect men are very rare.
men intelligent ideas
[About Pierre de Fermat] It cannot be denied that he has had many exceptional ideas, and that he is a highly intelligent man. For my part, however, I have always been taught to take a broad overview of things, in order to be able to deduce from them general rules, which might be applicable elsewhere.
life men use
Every man is indeed bound to do what he can to promote the good of others, and a man who is of no use to anyone is strictly worthless.
men hands purpose
... regard this body as a machine which, having been made by the hand of God, is incomparably better ordered than any machine that can be devised by man, and contains in itself movements more wonderful than those in any machine. ... it is for all practical purposes impossible for a machine to have enough organs to make it act in all the contingencies of life in the way in which our reason makes us act.
inspirational men one-man
Truths are more likely to be discovered by one man than by a nation
doubt philosophy therefore
Dubito ergo cogito; cogito ergo sum.(I doubt, therefore I think; I think therefore I am)
best common habit hardest matters satisfy thinks
Common sense is the best distributed thing in the world, for everyone thinks he is so well-endowed with it that even those who are hardest to satisfy in all other matters are not in the habit of desiring more of it than they already have
determine follow ought power probable
When it is not in our power to determine what it true, we ought to follow what is most probable