Famous Quotes,
Proverbs, & Sayings

Rene Descartes

Popular Topics:

People | Life | Time | Man | Love | Work | Music | Mind | Women | Money | War | Truth | Power | Art | Government | Nature | Business | History | Family | Age | Society | Success

Popular Authors:

Anthony Robbins | Tennessee Williams | Steve Jobs | Ramakrishna | Henry Fielding | Albert Schweitzer | Carl Sandburg | Stephen Hawking | Karl Kraus | Walt Disney | Arthur C. Clarke

Popular Occupations:

Actors | Politicians | Philosophers | Musicians | Comedians | Scientists | Artists | Lawyers

Rene Descartes

Born: March 31, 1596

Died: February 11, 1650

Nationality: French

Occupation: Mathematician

Biography: René Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician, and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy', and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day.

Next

Rene Descartes

“A state is better governed which has few laws, and those laws strictly observed.”

- Rene Descartes

Source/Notes: "Descartes: Selected Philosophical Writings", Cambridge University Press, 1988, p. 29, "Discourse on the Method" - ISBN: 9780521358125

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Rene Descartes

“Common sense is the most fairly distributed thing in the world, for each one 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.”

- Rene Descartes

Source/Notes: Le Discours de la Méthode (1637), Part I

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Rene Descartes

“Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it.”

- Rene Descartes

Source/Notes: Le Discours de la Méthode (1637)

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Rene Descartes

“Each problem that I solved became a rule, which served afterwards to solve other problems.”

- Rene Descartes

Source/Notes: Le Discours de la Méthode (1637)

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Rene Descartes

“Everything is self-evident.”

- Rene Descartes

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Rene Descartes

“Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.”

- Rene Descartes

Source/Notes: Le Discours de la méthode (1637)

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Rene Descartes

“I am accustomed to sleep and in my dreams to imagine the same things that lunatics imagine when awake.”

- Rene Descartes

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Rene Descartes

“I am indeed amazed when I consider how weak my mind is and how prone to error.”

- Rene Descartes

Source/Notes: Descartes' philosophical writings, Volume 1 (Macmillan, 1952), p. 209

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Rene Descartes

“I hope that posterity will judge me kindly, not only as to the things which I have explained, but also to those which I have intentionally omitted so as to leave to others the pleasure of discovery.”

- Rene Descartes

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Rene Descartes

“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.”

- Rene Descartes

Source/Notes: Darling, David J. (2004). The Universal Book of Mathematics. Wiley. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-471-27047-8.

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Rene Descartes

“Illusory joy is often worth more than genuine sorrow.”

- Rene Descartes

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Rene Descartes

“In order to improve the mind, we ought less to learn, than to contemplate.”

- Rene Descartes

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Rene Descartes

“It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.”

- Rene Descartes

Source/Notes: Le Discours de la méthode (1637), pt. 1

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Rene Descartes

“It is only prudent never to place complete confidence in that by which we have even once been deceived.”

- Rene Descartes

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Next