God Alone Is The Author Of All

My Third Maxim Was To Try Always To Conquer Myself Rather Than Fortune, And To Change My Desires Rather Than The Order Of The World, And Generally To Accustom Myself To Believing That There Is Nothing Entirely In Our Power Except Our Thoughts, So That After We Have Done Our Best Regarding Things External To Us, Everything In Which We Do Not Succeed Is For Us Absolutely Impossible.

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?

The Rainbow Is Such A Remarkable Phenomenon Of Nature, And Its Cause Has Been So Meticulously Sought After By Inquiring Minds Throughout The Ages, That I Could Not Choose A More Appropriate Subject For Demonstrating How, With The Method I Am Using, We Can Arrive At Knowledge Not Possessed At All By Those Whose Writings Are Available To Us.

Although My Knowledge Grows More And More, Nevertheless I Do Not For That Reason Believe That It Can Ever Be Actually Infinite, Since It Can Never Reach A Point So High That It Will Be Unable To Attain Any Greater Increase.

I Was Convinced That Our Beliefs Are Based Much More On Custom And Example Than On Any Certain Knowledge.