René Descartes

Quote of René Descartes - My third maxim was to try...

Biography - René Descartes:

French philosopher, mathematician and scientist.
Born: 1596 - Died: 1650
Period:
17th century
Place of birth: France
France

France

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

René Descartes - Discourse on the Method

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Translation

Translation

(French, German)

Ma troisième maxime était de tâcher toujours plutôt à me vaincre que la fortune, et à changer mes désirs que l’ordre du monde.

René Descartes - Discours de la méthode

Mein dritter Grundsatz war, immer bemüht zu sein, lieber mich als das Schicksal zu besiegen, lieber meine Wünsche als die Weltordnung zu verändern.

René Descartes - Discours de la méthode

See also...

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

The best reformers the world has ever seen are those who commence on themselves.

George Bernard Shaw

Quotes for: change

Quotes about change:

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

Alan Watts - The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety /

Change alone is the constant.

Arthur Schopenhauer - Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life /

change

If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.

Carl Gustav Jung /

Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.

Bertolt Brecht /

change

To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.

Henri Bergson - Creative Evolution /

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.

Ralph Waldo Emerson /

All about change...

Quotes for: world

Quotes about the world:

The world of the happy man is a different one from that of the unhappy man.

Ludwig Wittgenstein - Tractatus Logico-philosophicus /

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

William Blake - Auguries of Innocence /

The world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it.

Albert Einstein /

Let us read and let us dance—these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.

Voltaire - Philosophical Dictionary /

How far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

William Shakespeare - The Merchant of Venice /

We admire the world through what we love.

Alphonse de Lamartine - Jocelyn /

All about the world...

Quotes for: oneself

Quotes about oneself:

It is of immense importance to learn to laugh at ourselves.

Katherine Mansfield /

A happy life, therefore, is one which is in accordance with its own nature.

Seneca - De Vita Beata /

The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.

Michel de Montaigne - Essays /

The best means of learning to know oneself is seeking to understand others.

Give to every human being every right that you claim for yourself.

Robert Green Ingersoll /

I accept the great adventure of being me.

Simone de Beauvoir /

oneself

All about oneself...

Quotes for: Desire

Quotes for: Desire

He has what he desires who can limit his desires to what is enough.

Publilius Syrus - Sentences /

Desire

Desire is the essence of a man.

Baruch Spinoza - Ethics /

There is no desire more natural than the desire for knowledge.

Michel de Montaigne - Essays /

Love is the desire to give, not to receive, something.

Bertolt Brecht /

Man is a creation of desire, not a creation of need.

Gaston Bachelard - La Psychanalyse du feu /

Desire

This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined.

Baruch Spinoza /

All Desire quotes...

René Descartes also said...

To live without philosophizing is properly to have one's eyes closed and never attempt to open them.

René Descartes - Principles of Philosophy /

I dare to believe that inner joy has some secret power to win the favour of fortune.

René Descartes - Correspondance avec Élisabeth /

Good sense is, of all things among men, the most equally distributed; for every one thinks himself so abundantly provided with it, that those even who are the most difficult to satisfy in everything else, do not usually desire a larger measure of this quality than they already possess. And in this it is not likely that all are mistaken: the conviction is rather to be held as testifying that the power of judging aright and of distinguishing truth from error, which is properly what is called good sense or reason, is by nature equal in all men; and that the diversity of our opinions, consequently, does not arise from some being endowed with a larger share of reason than others, but solely from this, that we conduct our thoughts along different ways, and do not fix our attention on the same objects. For to be possessed of a vigorous mind is not enough; the prime requisite is rightly to apply it.

René Descartes - Discourse on the Method /

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

René Descartes - Discourse on the Method /

The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.

René Descartes /

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.

René Descartes - Principles of Philosophy /

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