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For Descartes, wisdom was the practical application of reason to life. He famously stated, 'It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well. ' He believed that wisdom consists in the mastery of one's own thoughts and emotions. By following a clear method of reasoning, we can distinguish between truth and error, and make choices that lead to tranquility. He teaches that wisdom is a skill that must be cultivated through the disciplined use of the intellect.
"In order to improve the mind, we ought less to learn, than to contemplate."
"The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries."
"I think, therefore I am."
"Reason is the only thing that makes us men, and distinguishes us from the beasts."
"The soul can have its own pleasures; but as for those which are common to it and the body, they depend entirely on the passions."
"To live without philosophizing is in truth the same as keeping the eyes closed without attempting to open them."
"Common sense is the best distributed commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it."
"The greatest souls are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues; and those who walk very slowly may yet make much greater progress."
"It is useful to know something of the manners of different nations, that we may be able to form a more correct judgment regarding our own."
"The mind is so dependent on the temper and disposition of the bodily organs that, if it is possible to find a means of making men wiser and more skillful, I believe that it is in medicine that it must be sought."
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