Like a prisoner who dreams that he is free, starts to
suspect that it is merely a dream, and wants to go on
dreaming rather than waking up, so I am content to
slide back into my old opinions; I fear being shaken out
of them because I am afraid that my peaceful sleep may
be followed by hard labour when I wake, and that I
shall have to struggle not in the light but in the
imprisoning darkness of the problems I have raised.

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

Thus the perception of the infinite is somehow prior in me to the perception of the finite, that is, my perception of God is prior to my perception of myself. For how would I understand that I doubt and that I desire, that is, that I lack something and that I am not wholly perfect, unless there were some idea in me of a more perfect being, by comparison with which I might recognize my defects?

[...] the diversity of our opinions, consequently, does not arise from some being endowed with a larger share of reason than others, but solely from this, that we conduct our thoughts along different ways, and do not fix our attention on the same objects. For to be possessed of a vigorous mind is not enough; the prime requisite is rightly to apply it. The greatest minds, as they are capable of the highest excellences, are open likewise to the greatest aberrations; and those who travel very slowly may yet make far greater progress, provided they keep always to the straight road, than those who, while they run, forsake it.

Dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum.

(English: "I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am")

It is only prudent never to place complete confidence in that by which we have even once been deceived.