René Descartes
“Staying as I am, one foot in one country and the other in another, I find my condition very happy, in that it is free.”
“You know that all my physics is nothing else than geometry.”
“It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it.”
“No more useful inquiry can be proposed than that which seeks to determine the nature and the scope of human knowledge.”
“The entire method consists in the order and arrangement of the things to which the mind's eye must turn so that we can discover some truth.”
“So blind is the curiosity by which mortals are possessed, that they often conduct their minds along unexplored routes.”
“Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.”
“To live without philosophizing is in truth the same as keeping the eyes closed without attempting to open them.”
“Good sense is of all things among men the most equally distributed.”
“Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it.”
“The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of past centuries.”
“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.”
“Conquer yourself rather than the world.”
“Cogito, ergo sum.”