Everybody Thinks Himself So Well Supplied With

If I Found Any New Truths In The Sciences, I Can Say That They Follow From, Or Depend On, Five Or Six Principal Problems Which I Succeeded In Solving And Which I Regard As So Many Battles Where The Fortunes Of War Were On My Side.

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.

Hence Reason Also Demands That, Since Our Thoughts Cannot All Be True Because We Are Not Wholly Perfect, What Truth They Do Possess Must Inevitably Be Found In The Thoughts We Have When Awake, Rather Than In Our Dreams.

Each Problem That I Solved Became A Rule, Which Served Afterwards To Solve Other Problems.

At Last I Will Devote Myself Sincerely And Without Reservation To The General Demolition Of My Opinions.