“To know what people really think, pay attention to what they do, rather than what they say.”

—  René Descartes

Last update Jan. 28, 2026. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "To know what people really think, pay attention to what they do, rather than what they say." by René Descartes?
René Descartes photo
René Descartes47
French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist 1596–1650

Related quotes

David Allen photo

“Pay appropriate attention to what has your attention, so you can pay attention to what really has your attention.”

David Allen (1945) American productivity consultant and author

15 September 2011 https://twitter.com/gtdguy/status/114341777418354689 <br class="br"> Official Twitter profile (@gtdguy) https://twitter.com/gtdguy

John F. Kerry photo

“We have an electorate that doesn't always pay that much attention to what's going on so people are influenced by a simple slogan rather than the facts or truth or what's happening.”

John F. Kerry (1943) politician from the United States

September 27, 2010. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/28/democrats_in_denial_about_unpopular_policies.html

“The main thing to do is pay attention. Pay close attention to everything, notice what no one else notices. Then you'll know what no one else knows, and that's always useful.”

Jeanne DuPrau The City of Ember

Source: The City of Ember

“The tragedy is that our attention centers on what people are not, rather than on what they are and who they might become.”

Brennan Manning (1934–2013) writer, American Roman Catholic priest and United States Marine

Source: 2000s, The Wisdom of Tenderness: What happens when God's firece mercy transforms our lives (2002), p. 71

“"Look here," Gerald said, "what do you think of Giants?"
There was the kind of pause that happens when people do not like to say what they really think.”

Diana Wynne Jones book Power of Three

Source: Power of Three (1976), p. 166.

“Pay attention to your students. Hear what they say, try to find out what their capacities are, what make sense to them. Adapt what you are doing and saying to those capacities, but make your students stretch upward.”

M. H. Abrams (1912–2015) American literary theorist

People's Education interview (2007)
Context: Pay attention to your students. Hear what they say, try to find out what their capacities are, what make sense to them. Adapt what you are doing and saying to those capacities, but make your students stretch upward. I think the trick is to adapt to the level of a student, but never rest on that level — always make them reach out. … If a student does not quite get it the first time, he or she will come back and get it later. If you don’t set your writing — and teaching — at a level that makes them stretch, they are never going to develop their intellectual muscle.

“You knew better than to pay mind to what people and the devil say.”

Aaron Weiss

Disaster Tourism.
Catch For Us The Foxes (2004)

Marcelo Gleiser photo

“When most people think of nature, they want to look for perfection and for symmetry and balance, ... But if you really pay attention you are going to see that what actually makes nature tick are the imbalances, the imperfections, the asymmetries.”

Marcelo Gleiser (1959) Brazilian physicist

&quot; Physicist Marcelo Gleiser Asks the Big Questions&quot; https://news.dartmouth.edu/news/2011/08/physicist-marcelo-gleiser-asks-big-questions, dartmouth.edu (August 26, 2011)

“Politics is when people choose their words and actions based on how they want others to react rather than based on what they really think.”

Patrick Lencioni (1965) American writer

Source: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

Related topics