35 Inspirational Rene Descartes Quotes On Success

Rene Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. He is one of the most notable intellectual figures of the Dutch Golden Age. Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy continues to be a standard text at most university philosophy departments. Descartes devised a coordinate system known as the Cartesian Plane, to illustrate an equation with two variables. This breakthrough bridges algebra and geometry and would soon pave way to calculus and other areas of mathematics. Descartes was also one of the key figures in the Scientific Revolution. His best known philosophical statement is “I think, therefore I am”. May these Rene Descartes Quotes inspire you to take action so that you may live your dreams.

1. “I think; therefore I am.” Rene Descartes

2. “Common sense is the most widely shared commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it.” Rene Descartes

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

4. “The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.” Rene Descartes

5. “The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues.” Rene Descartes

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

7. “But in my opinion, all things in nature occur mathematically.” Rene Descartes

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

9. “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

10. “Everything is self-evident.” Rene Descartes

11. “The thinking of the mind is twofold: understanding and willing.” Rene Descartes

12. “Those who reason most powerfully and are the most successful at ordering their thoughts so as to make them clear and intelligible will always be best able to persuade others of what they say, even if they speak in the thickest of dialects.” Rene Descartes

13. “It cannot be denied that he has had many exceptional ideas, and that he is a highly intelligent man. For my part, however, I have always been taught to take a broad overview of things, in order to be able to deduce from them general rules, which might be applicable elsewhere.” Rene Descartes

14. “You just keep pushing. You just keep pushing. I made every mistake that could be made. But I just kept pushing.” Rene Descartes

15. “When it is not in our power to determine what is true, we ought to follow what is most probable.” Rene Descartes

16. “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.” Rene Descartes

17. “The very desire to seek the truth often causes people, who do not know how it should be sought correctly, to make judgments about things that they do not perceive and in that way they make mistakes.” Rene Descartes

18. “It 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.” Rene Descartes

19. “For the very fact that my knowledge is increasing little by little is the most certain argument for its imperfection.” Rene Descartes

20. “The dreams we imagine when we are asleep should not in any way make us doubt the truth of the thoughts we have when we are awake.” Rene Descartes

21. “Hope is the desire of the soul to be convinced that the dream will come true.” Rene Descartes

22. “To know what people really think, pay regard to what they do, rather than what they say.” Rene Descartes

23. “We do not see the world we see, we see the world we can describe.” Rene Descartes

24. “Whenever anyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offense cannot reach it.” Rene Descartes

25. “Gratitude is a species of love, excited in us by some action of the person for whom we have it, and by which we believe that he has done some good to us, or at least that he has had the intention of doing so.” Rene Descartes

26. “Moreover, I am aware that most of the irreligious deny the existence of God, and the distinctness of the human soul from the body, for no other reason than because these points, as they allege, have never as yet been demonstrated.” Rene Descartes

27. “I undertook to conquer myself rather than fortune, and to alter my desires rather than change the order of the world, and to accustom myself to believe that nothing is entirely in our power except our own thoughts.” Rene Descartes

28. “Like a prisoner who dreams that he is free, starts to suspect that it is merely a dream, and wants to go on dreaming rather than waking up, so I am content to slide back into my old opinions; I fear being shaken out of them because I am afraid that my peaceful sleep may be followed by hard labor when I wake, and that I shall have to struggle not in the light but in the imprisoning darkness of the problems I have raised.” Rene Descartes

29. “It is enough that I can understand one thing, clearly and distinctly, without another in order to be certain that one thing is distinct from the other.” Rene Descartes

30. “Conquer yourself rather than the world.” Rene Descartes

31. “It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well. It is not good enough to have good talent, the main thing is to apply it well.” Rene Descartes

32. “If you want to develop your mind you should think more, not repeat.” Rene Descartes

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

34. “Control your body if you want your mind to work properly.” Rene Descartes

35. “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

I hope you enjoyed these Rene Descartes Quotes On Success. Do let us know which one was your favorite in the comments section below.

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