The Senses Deceive From Time To Time,

The Two Operations Of Our Understanding, Intuition And Deduction, On Which Alone We Have Said We Must Rely In The Acquisition Of Knowledge.

I Concluded That I Might Take As A General Rule The Principle That All Things Which We Very Clearly And Obviously Conceive Are True: Only Observing, However, That There Is Some Difficulty In Rightly Determining The Objects Which We Distinctly Conceive.

For How Do We Know That The Thoughts Which Occur In Dreaming Are False Rather Than Those Others Which We Experience When Awake, Since The Former Are Often Not Less Vivid And Distinct Than The Latter?

Just As We Believe By Faith That The Greatest Happiness Of The Next Life Consists Simply In The Contemplation Of This Divine Majesty, Likewise We Experience That We Derive The Greatest Joy Of Which We Are Capable In This Life From The Same Contemplation, Even Though It Is Much Less Perfect.

Illusory Joy Is Often Worth More Than Genuine Sorrow.