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[T]he power of forming a good judgment and of distinguishing the true from the false, which is properly speaking what is called Good sense or Reason, is by nature equal in all men.

— René Descartes

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Mind

More quotes by René Descartes

In order to seek truth, it is necessary once in the course of our life, to doubt, as far as possible, of all things.

Principles of Philosophy (1644)

I was not, thank heaven, in a condition which compelled me to make merchandise of Science for the bettering of my fortune.

I suppose the body to be nothing but a statue or machine made of earth, which God forms with the explicit intention of making it as much as possible like us.

Le Homme (The Treatise on Man) (1662)

If you would be a real seeker after truth, you must at least once in your life doubt, as far as possible, all things.

The two operations of our understanding, intuition and deduction, on which alone we have said we must rely in the acquisition of knowledge.

Key Philosophical Writings (1997)

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Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist.

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The greater part of humanity is too much harassed and fatigued by the struggle with want, to rally itself for a new and sterner struggle with error.

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The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

George Bernard Shaw Maxims for Revolutionists (1903)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: René Descartes (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.