By frequent repetition of if, but, and perhaps, we succeed in forming an
imperfect and broken system which perplexes men's minds to the extent of
making them forget the clearest notions, and to render uncertain the
most palpable truths. By the aid of this systematic nonsense, all nature
has become an inexplicable enigma for man; the visible world has
disappeared to give place to invisible regions; reason is obliged to
give place to imagination, which can lead us only to the land of
chimeras which she herself has invented.