Kartezjusz cytaty

„Należy wierzyć jedynie temu, cośmy doskonale poznali i w co nie można wątpić.”

Zasady filozoficzne

„Świadectwem przeciętności jest niezdolność do ulegania entuzjazmowi.”

„Rzecz prawdziwa to rzecz niepowątpiewalna.”

„Nie wystarczy mieć sprawny umysł, trzeba go jeszcze dobrze używać”

„Zdrowy rozum jest to rzecz ze wszystkich na świecie najlepiej podzielona, każdy bowiem sądzi, iż jest w nią tak dobrze zaopatrzony, iż nawet ci, których we wszystkim innym najtrudniej jest zadowolić, nie zwykli pragnąć go więcej, niźli posiadają.”

Kartezjusz książka Rozprawa o metodzie

Źródło: Rozprawa o metodzie, tłum. Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński

„Intuicja ogłada teraźniejszość.”

„Obcowanie z autorami wieków minionych jest tym samym prawie, co podróżowanie.”

„Jestem podległy błędom równie jak każdy inny, odrzucam jako błędne wszystkie racje, które wziąłem poprzednio za dowody.”

„Ilekroć niezgodne są ze sobą sądy dwóch ludzi o tym samym przedmiocie, jest rzeczą pewną, iż przynajmniej jeden z nich jest w błędzie.”

„Pogardza się mężczyzną zazdrosnym o swą żonę, ponieważ jest to dowodem, że ma złe mniemanie o sobie lub niej.”

„Nienawiść jest przeciwieństwem miłości. Nie odróżnia się jednak tyle stopni i rodzajów nienawiści, co stopni i rodzajów miłości, gdyż „nie ma czasu” rozróżniać rodzajów zła, od którego się ucieka, tak jak rozróżnia się dobra, których się pragnie.”

„Nie być użytecznym dla nikogo świadczy o braku wartości.”

„Całe szczęście i pomyślność naszego życia zależy od dobrego użytku, jaki zrobimy z naszych namiętności.”

„Trudno jest, pracując jeno na dziełach cudzych, dokonać rzeczy bardzo doskonałych.”

„Żądza wiedzy, wspólna wszystkim ludziom jest chorobą, której nie można uleczyć, ponieważ ciekawość wzrasta wraz z wiedzą.”

“The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of past centuries.”

Kartezjusz: Cytaty po angielsku

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

“And thus, the actions of life often not allowing any delay, it is a truth very certain that, when it is not in our power to determine the most true opinions we ought to follow the most probable.”

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

Źródło: Discourse on Method

“There is nothing more ancient than the truth.”

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

“It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well.”

Źródło: Discourse on Method

“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.”

Wariant: It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.
Źródło: Discourse on Method

“Mr. Clerselier has written me that you are expecting from him my Meditations… in order to present them to the queen of the land. …If I had only been as wise as they say the savages persuaded themselves that the monkeys were, I never would have become known as a maker of books: Since it is said that they imagined that the monkeys could indeed speak, if they wanted to, but that they chose not to so lest they be forced to work. And since I had not the same prudence to abstain from writing, I now have neither as much liesure nor as much peace as I would have had if I had kept quiet. But since the mistake has already been made, and since I am now known by an infinity of people at the academy, who look askance at my writings and scour them for means of harming me, I do have great hope of being known to persons of great merit, whose power and virtue could protect me.”

René Descartes książka Rules for the Direction of the Mind

Rules for the Direction of the Mind: X.379
As quoted in [Clarke, Desmond M., 2006, Descartes : a Biography, Cambridge Press, 67, ISBN 978-0-521-82301-2]

“My third maxim was to endeavor always to conquer myself rather than fortune, and change my desires rather than the order of the world.”

Letter to Pierre Chanut (Nov. 1, 1646) as quoted by Amir Aczel, Descartes' Secret Notebook (2005) citing René Descartes: Correspondance avec Elizabeth et autres lettres (1989) ed., Jean-Marie and M. Beysaade, pp. 245-246.

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

René Descartes książka Rozprawa o metodzie

Źródło: Discourse on Method (Rozprava o metodě)

“I think, therefore I am.”

“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.”

Je pense, donc je suis.
Le Discours de la Méthode (1637)
Wariant: I think, therefore I am.

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

René Descartes książka Principles of Philosophy

Original Latin: Veritatem inquirenti, semel in vita de omnibus, quantum fieri potest, esse dubitandum
Variant translation: If you would be a real seeker after truth, you must at least once in your life doubt, as far as possible, all things.
Principles of Philosophy (1644)
Wariant: In order to seek truth, it is necessary once in the course of our life, to doubt, as far as possible, of all things.

“Conquer yourself rather than the world.”

“Doubt is the origin of wisdom”

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

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

“I desire to live in peace and to continue the life I have begun under the motto 'to live well you must live unseen”

Źródło: The Principles of Philosophy

“Masked, I advance.”

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

“To live without philosophizing is in truth the same as keeping the eyes closed without attempting to open them.”

René Descartes książka Meditations on First Philosophy

Wariant: ... it is a mark of prudence never to place our complete trust in those who have deceived us even once.
Źródło: Meditations on First Philosophy

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

“In order to improve the mind, we ought less to learn than to contemplate.”

“For I found myself embarrassed with so many doubts and errors that it seemed to me that the effort to instruct myself had no effect other than the increasing discovery of my own ignorance”