Finally, I couldn’t have controlled my desires or felt content if I hadn’t followed a path where I believed I could achieve all the knowledge I was capable of, as well as the greatest amount of true good that I could hope to attain.
https://github.com/davepinch/pinchy.cc/blob/master/content/topics/works/r/rene-descartes/discourse-on-the-method/translation/part-3/3-5-7.translation.md
And, just as in pulling down an old house, we usually reserve the ruins to contribute towards the erection, so, in destroying such of my opinions as I judged to be ill-founded, I made a variety of observations and acquired an amount of experience of which I availed myself in the establishment of more certain.
And, in fine, I could not have restrained my desires, nor remained satisfied, had I not followed a path in which I thought myself certain of attaining all the knowledge to the acquisition of which I was competent, as well as the largest amount of what is truly good which I could ever hope to secure.