Reflection

Reflection is a word that can refer to many forms of contemplation, introspection or observation.

• Grace causes the Christian to act, reason the philosopher. Other men are carried away by their passions, their actions not being preceded by reflection: these are the men who walk in darkness. On the other hand, the philosopher, even in his passions, acts only after reflection; he walks in the dark, but by a torch.
  • Denis Diderot in the article on Philosophy, Vol. 25, p. 667, in L'Encyclopédie (1751 - 1766)

• Education begins the gentleman, but reading, good company, and reflection must finish him.
  • John Locke, as quoted in The Book-Lover's Enchiridion (1884) by Alexander Ireland, p. 94

• To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.
  • Henri Poincaré in Preface, Dover abridged edition (1952), p. xxii, in Science and Hypothesis (1901)