I was convinced that our beliefs are based much more on custom and example than on any certain knowledge.

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 first precept was never to accept a thing as true until I knew it as such without a single doubt.

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

For to be possessed of a vigorous mind is not enough; the prime requisite is rightly to apply it.

There is a little gland in the brain in which the soul exercises its functions in a more particular way than in the other parts.

I desire to live in peace and to continue the life I have begun under the motto 'to live well you must live unseen