I Have Said More Than Once, That

But It Is The Knowledge Of Necessary And Eternal Truths Which Distinguishes Us From Mere Animals, And Gives Us Reason And The Sciences, Raising Us To Knowledge Of Ourselves And God. It Is This In Us Which We Call The Rational Soul Or Mind.

I Agree With You That It Is Important To Examine Our Presuppositions, Throughly And Once For All, In Order To Establish Something Solid. For I Hold That It Is Only When We Can Prove All That We Bring Forward That We Perfectly Understand The Thing Under Consideration. I Know That The Common Herd Takes Little Pleasure In These Researches, But I Know Also That The Common Herd Take Little Pains Thoroughly To Understand Things.

Reality Cannot Be Found Except In One Single Source, Because Of The Interconnection Of All Things With One Another. I Maintain Also That Substances, Whether Material Or Immaterial, Cannot Be Conceived In Their Bare Essence Without Any Activity, Activity Being Of The Essence Of Substance In General.

Every Present State Of A Simple Substance Is The Natural Consequence Of Its Preceding State, In Such A Way That Its Present Is Big With Its Future.

Indeed In General I Hold That There Is Nothing Truer Than Happiness, And Nothing Happier And Sweeter Than Truth.