Clear and Simple As the Truth Quotes

“Descartes's little book {Discourse on the Method} is among the most accessible of recognized philosophic classics in the Western tradition. It is not a book by an erudite addressed to other erudites. Descartes explicitly devalues erudition. His thesis is that everybody has what is essential for identifying truth—natural reason—whether or not that person has any special educational formation. Failure to identify truth comes either from directing natural reason to the wrong objects—which can include the recondite lore of erudition—or from uncritically accepting opinion and custom.”
― Francis-Noel Thomas, Clear and Simple As the Truth: Writing Classic Prose