30 phrases by René Descartes that reflect the genius of this philosopher

There are no easy methods to solve difficult problems.

When one is too curious about things practiced in past centuries, it is common to be ignorant of those that are practiced in the present.

Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks they need more than they actually have.

It is wise not to fully trust the one who once deceived us.

To examine the truth, it is necessary, once in a lifetime, to put all things in doubt as much as possible.

I think therefore I am.

We must never allow ourselves to be persuaded except by the evidence of reason.

Desiring, loathing, guaranteeing, denying, doubting are different ways of willing.

In matters of love, not loving is the right way to be loved.

There is nothing that we fully master but our thoughts.

Human intelligence is only infallible when it decides on what it perceives distinctly.

Men who are moved by passions are capable of having more sweetness in life.

It is not enough to have a good mind: the main thing is to use it well.

An optimist can see a light where there is none, but why does the pessimist always run to extinguish it?

The encounter with the truth has nothing dogmatic, it just means an encounter of reason with itself in a free and methodical procedure.

It is properly worthless not to be useful to anyone.

People who constantly hesitate get nowhere, as if walking in circles.

A man who is jealous of his wife is despised, because that is testimony that he does not love properly, and that he has a bad opinion of himself or her.

When I receive an injury, I must lift my soul so high that the offense does not reach me.

The food of youth is illusion.

Humanly, there is no being that is happy without the other being too.

Passions are all good by nature and we just have to avoid their misuse and excesses.

They say the monkey is so smart that he doesn’t talk so he won’t be made to work.

One must avoid all precipitation and all prejudice when analyzing a subject and only take as true what is clear and distinct.

Divide the difficulties you encounter into as many parts as possible for your best solution.

The philosophy I cultivate is neither so barbaric nor so inaccessible as to reject passions; on the contrary, it is only in them that the sweetness and happiness of life reside.

The common sense of an epoch, whatever it may be, is not and cannot be a criterion of truth.

Philosophy is what distinguishes us from savages and barbarians; Nations are the more civilized and cultured the better their men philosophize.

The spectacle of the world often offers us scenes of violence and intolerance, born of prejudices that want to impose themselves by force, in the absence of questioning and, above all, of the exercise of reason.