In the matter of a difficult question it is more likely that the truth should have been discovered by the few than by the many.

Variant: When it is not in our power to follow what is true, we ought to follow what is most probable.

To live without philosophizing is in truth the same as keeping the eyes closed without attempting to open them.

The only thing that I know, is that I know nothing

Thus each truth discovered was a rule available in the discovery of subsequent ones.

As I considered the matter carefully it gradually came to light that all those matters only were referred to mathematics in which order and measurements are investigated, and that it makes no difference whether it be in numbers, figures, stars, sounds or any other object that the question of measurement arises. I saw consequently that there must be some general science to explain that element as a whole which gives rise to problems about order and measurement, restricted as these are to no special subject matter. This, I perceived was called 'universal mathematics'.

The senses deceive from time to time, and it is prudent never to trust wholly those who have deceived us even once.