I preferred the weapons of dialectic to all the other teachings of philosophy, and armed with these, I chose the conflicts of disputation rather than the trophies of war.

By doubting we come to questioning, and by questioning we perceive the truth.

In doubting we come to inquiry; by inquiry we perceive the truth.

Nothing can be believed unless it is first understood; and that for any one to preach to others that which either he has not understood nor they have understood is absurd.

Under the pretext of study we spent our hours in the happiness of love, and learning held out to us the secret opportunities that our passion craved. Our speech was more of love than of the books which lay open before us; our kisses far outnumbered our reasoned words.

The beginning of wisdom is found in doubting; by doubting we come to the question, and by seeking we may come upon the truth.

The men who abandon themselves to the passions of this miserable life, are compared in Scripture to beasts.