Rene Descartes

Cogito ergo sum

Early Modern influential 125 sayings

Sayings by Rene Descartes

I confess that I have never found in my experience that anything which I once clearly understood could afterwards be called into doubt by me.

1630 (approximate) — Letter to Mersenne
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The greatest good is the knowledge of truth, and the greatest evil is error.

Unknown — Attributed, though exact source is debated
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I would not advise anyone to read my books who has not the leisure and inclination to meditate seriously with me.

1644 — Preface to Principia Philosophiae
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

It is true that when I consider how many different beliefs there are among men, I find no reason to choose one rather than another.

1637 — Discourse on the Method
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

For the mind is not nourished by anything but truth.

Unknown — Attributed, though exact source is debated
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

It is a mark of a truly great mind to be able to make a great discovery with few means.

Unknown — Attributed, though exact source is debated
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I suppose therefore that all the things I see are false imaginations; I believe that nothing ever existed of all that my fallacious memory represents to me.

1641 — Meditations on First Philosophy
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The greatest good is that which is most useful.

Unknown — Attributed, though exact source is debated
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

It is not enough to walk with great strides, it is necessary to walk in the right road.

Unknown — Attributed, though exact source is debated
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I have never had any experience that was not accompanied by some thought.

Unknown — Attributed, though exact source is debated
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

To conquer myself rather than fortune, and to change my desires rather than the order of the world.

1637 — Discourse on the Method
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The long chains of simple and easy reasonings by means of which geometers are accustomed to reach the conclusions of their most difficult demonstrations, had led me to imagine that all things, the knowledge of which is open to man, are similarly dependent one upon another.

1637 — Discourse on the Method
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I feel within me a will that is far more extensive than my understanding.

1641 — Meditations on First Philosophy
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The light of natural reason is not less certain than that of revelation.

Unknown — Attributed, though exact source is debated
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I have never made any distinction between the sciences, but have always held that all are linked together, and that it is easier to learn them all at once than to learn one separately.

1630 (approximate) — Letter to Mersenne
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

It is not enough to apply our mind to things, but we must also apply it to ourselves.

Unknown — Attributed, though exact source is debated
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

All that is solid melts into air.

— Attributed, though this is a misattribution, more famously associated with Marx and Engels. Descarte…
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

To know what is true is to know what is good.

Unknown — Attributed, though exact source is debated
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The mind is a substance whose whole essence or nature consists only of thinking.

1641 — Meditations on First Philosophy
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The greatest good is to live without pain.

Unknown — Attributed, though exact source is debated
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable