Common sense is the most widely shared commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it.
Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.
I desire to live in peace and to continue the life I have begun under the motto ‘to live well you must live unseen
Let whoever can do so deceive me, he will never bring it about that I am nothing, so long as I continue to think I am something.
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.
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.
It is only prudent never to place complete confidence in that by which we have even once been deceived.
You just keep pushing. You just keep pushing. I made every mistake that could be made. But I just kept pushing.
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.
To live without philosophizing is in truth the same as keeping the eyes closed without attempting to open them.
But in my opinion, all things in nature occur mathematically.
The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of past centuries.
that the grace of fable stirs the mind”…and…”that the perusal of excellent books is, as it were, to interview with the noblest men of past ages
It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well.
When I turn my mind’s eye upon myself, I understand that I am a thing which is incomplete and dependent on another and which aspires without limit to ever greater and better things…
…we ought not meanwhile to make use of doubt in the conduct of life.
…the greater objective (representative) perfection there is in our idea of a thing, the greater also must be the perfection of its cause.
…we ought also to consider as false all that is doubtful.
I took especially great pleasure in mathematics because of the certainty and the evidence of its arguments.
Each problem that I solved became a rule, which served afterwards to solve other problems.