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

Rene Descartes

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Rene Descartes
Age: 53 †
Born: 1596
Born: March 31
Died: 1650
Died: February 11
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La Haye en Touraine
Descartes
Cartesius
Renatus Cartesius
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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
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Even those who have the weakest souls could acquire absolute mastery over all their passions if we employed sufficient ingenuity in training and guiding them.
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It is possible that I am dreaming right now and that all of my perceptions are false.
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When I consider this carefully, I find not a single property which with certainty separates the waking state from the dream. How can you be certain that your whole life is not a dream?
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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.
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Doubt is the origin of wisdom
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The nature of matter, or body considered in general, consists not in its being something which is hard or heavy or coloured, or which affects the senses in any way, but simply in its being something which is extended in length, breadth and depth.
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I experienced in myself a certain capacity for judging which I have doubtless received from God, like all the other things that I possess and as He could not desire to deceive me, it is clear that He has not given me a faculty that will lead me to err if I use it aright.
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It is to the body alone that we should attribute everything that can be observed in us to oppose our reason.
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Give me extension and motion and I will construct the universe.
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Travelling is almost like talking with those of other centuries.
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Common sense is the best distributed thing in the world, for we all think we possess a good share of it.
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The principal effect of the passions is that they incite and persuade the mind to will the events for which they prepared the body.
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We do not describe the world we see, we see the world we can describe.
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Reason is nothing without imagination.
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Science is practical philosophy.
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Variant: When it is not in our power to follow what is true, we ought to follow what is most probable.
Rene Descartes
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If ... it is not in my power to arrive at the knowledge of any truth, I may at least do what is in my power, namely, suspend judgement.
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Intuition is the undoubting conception of a pure and attentive mind, which arises from the light of reason alone, and is more certain than deduction.
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Whenever anyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offense cannot reach it.
Rene Descartes