But In My Opinion, All Things In

I Think; Therefore I Am.

Here I Beg You To Observe In Passing That The Scruples That Prevented Ancient Writers From Using Arithmetical Terms In Geometry, And Which Can Only Be A Consequence Of Their Inability To Perceive Clearly The Relation Between These Two Subjects, Introduced Much Obscurity And Confusion Into Their Explanations.

So Blind Is The Curiosity By Which Mortals Are Possessed, That They Often Conduct Their Minds Along Unexplored Routes, Having No Reason To Hope For Success, But Merely Being Willing To Risk The Experiment Of Finding Whether The Truth They Seek Lies There.

These Long Chains Of Perfectly Simple And Easy Reasonings By Means Of Which Geometers Are Accustomed To Carry Out Their Most Difficult Demonstrations Had Led Me To Fancy That Everything That Can Fall Under Human Knowledge Forms A Similar Sequence; And That So Long As We Avoid Accepting As True What Is Not So, And Always Preserve The Right Order Of Deduction Of One Thing From Another, There Can Be Nothing Too Remote To Be Reached In The End, Or To Well Hidden To Be Discovered.

Divide Each Difficulty At Hand Into As Many Pieces As Possible And As Could Be Required To Better Solve Them.