René Descartes
French philosopher and mathematician (1596 to 1650); author of the Discourse on the Method (1637), the Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) and the Principles of Philosophy (1644).
René Descartes did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Their wordsFor to be possessed of a vigorous mind is not enough; the prime requisite is rightly to apply it.
↗Discourse on the Method (tr. John Veitch, 1850)gutenberg.org 1st of 6 in this piece
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Their wordsIt is useful to know something of the manners of different nations, that we may be enabled to form a more correct judgment regarding our own, and be prevented from thinking that everything contrary to our customs is ridiculous and irrational, a conclusion usually come to by those whose experience has been limited to their own country.
↗Discourse on the Method (tr. John Veitch, 1850)gutenberg.org 2nd of 6 in this piece
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Their wordsThe first was never to accept anything for true which I did not clearly know to be such; that is to say, carefully to avoid precipitancy and prejudice, and to comprise nothing more in my judgement than what was presented to my mind so clearly and distinctly as to exclude all ground of doubt.
↗Discourse on the Method (tr. John Veitch, 1850)gutenberg.org 3rd of 6 in this piece
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Their wordsBut immediately upon this I observed that, whilst I thus wished to think that all was false, it was absolutely necessary that I, who thus thought, should be somewhat; and as I observed that this truth, I think, therefore I am (COGITO ERGO SUM), was so certain and of such evidence that no ground of doubt, however extravagant, could be alleged by the sceptics capable of shaking it, I concluded that I might, without scruple, accept it as the first principle of the philosophy of which I was in search.
↗Discourse on the Method (tr. John Veitch, 1850)gutenberg.org 4th of 6 in this piece
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Our reading
A practical science of nature's forces could make humans the lords and possessors of nature
Their wordsFor by them I perceived it to be possible to arrive at knowledge highly useful in life; and in room of the speculative philosophy usually taught in the schools, to discover a practical, by means of which, knowing the force and action of fire, water, air the stars, the heavens, and all the other bodies that surround us, as distinctly as we know the various crafts of our artisans, we might also apply them in the same way to all the uses to which they are adapted, and thus render ourselves the lords and possessors of nature.
↗Discourse on the Method (tr. John Veitch, 1850)gutenberg.org 5th of 6 in this piece
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Our reading
If anything can ever make people wiser and more ingenious, it is probably to be found in medicine
Their wordsAnd this is a result to be desired, not only in order to the invention of an infinity of arts, by which we might be enabled to enjoy without any trouble the fruits of the earth, and all its comforts, but also and especially for the preservation of health, which is without doubt, of all the blessings of this life, the first and fundamental one; for the mind is so intimately dependent upon the condition and relation of the organs of the body, that if any means can ever be found to render men wiser and more ingenious than hitherto, I believe that it is in medicine they must be sought for.
↗Discourse on the Method (tr. John Veitch, 1850)gutenberg.org 6th of 6 in this piece
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