Six metaphysical meditations · René Descartes
OBJECT. IX.
I have often noted before, That that very Thing which is _evidenc’d_ by _Reason_, as also whatever else is perceived by any other Means, is Called by Me an _Idea_. And I have sufficiently explain’d How _Reality_ may be _Encreas’d_ or _Diminish’d_, in the same manner (to wit) as _Substance_ is _More_ a _Thing_, then A _Mode_; and if there be any such things as _Real Qualities_, or _Incomplete Substances_, these are _More Things_ then _Modes_, and _Less Things_ then _Complete Substances_: and Lastly if there be an _Infinite Independent Substance_ this is _More_ a _Thing_, then a _Finite, Dependent Substance_. And all this is self-evident.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.