Antoine Léonard Thomas (1 October 1732 – 17 September 1785) was a French poet and literary critic, best known in his time for his great eloquence, especially for éloges in praise of past luminaries. It was in recognition of this that he was elected to Académie Française. In an award-winning 1765 essay in praise of René Descartes, he penned a fuller form of the cogito in French as "." With rearrangement and compaction, the passage translates to "I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am," or in Latin, "dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum." He was born in Clermont-Ferrand and died aged 52 in Oullins. Works Notes References External links 1732 births 1785 deaths French literary critics French poets Writers from Clermont-Ferrand 18th-century French writers 18th-century French male writers Members of the Académie Française French male poets French male non-fiction writers