Reflection
- 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.
- 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)