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The sweetest consolation
“there is no consolation so sweet in the loss of our friends as that which comes to us from the knowledge of not having forgotten to tell them anything” II.8. “Of the affection of fathers for their children” (p.349)
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On good works and loving
“Add to that this other Aristotelian consideration, that he who does good to someone loves him better than he is loved by him” II.8 “On the affection of fathers for their children” (p.337)
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We are all patchwork
“We are all patchwork, and so shapeless and diverse in composition that each bit, each moment, plays its own game. And there is as much difference between us and ourselves as between us and others.” II.1 “Of the inconsistency of our actions” (p. 296)
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My trade and my art
“My trade and my art is living.” II6. “Of practice” (p.332)
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Thousands of mind that trample us underfoot
“It anyone gets intoxicated with his knowledge when he looks beneath him, let him turn his eyes upward toward past ages, and he will lower his horns, finding there so many thousands of minds that trample him underfoot. … No particular quality will make a man proud who balances it against the many weaknesses and…
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What I chiefly portray is my cogitations
“What I chiefly portray is my cogitations, a shapeless subject that does not lend itself to expression in actions. It is all I can do to couch my thoughts in this airy medium of words. … It is not my deeds that I write down; it is myself, it is my essence.” II.6 “Of practice”…
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A thorny undertaking
“It is a thorny undertaking, and more so than it seems, to follow a movement so wandering as that of our mind, to penetrate the opaque depth of its innermost folds, to pick out and immobilize the innumerable flutterings that agitate it. And it is a new and extraordinary amusement, which withdraws us from the…
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All contradictions may be found in me
“anyone who observes carefully can hardly find himself twice in the same state. … If I speak of myself in different ways, that is because I look at myself in different ways. All contradictions may be found in me by some twist and in some fashion. Bashful, insolent; chaste, lascivious; talkative, taciturn; tough, delicate; clever,…
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Actions from neighboring circumstances
“The surest thing, in my opinion, would be to trace our actions to the neighboring circumstances, without getting into any further research and without drawing from them any other conclusions.” II.1 “Of the inconsistency of our actions” (p. 292) [Makes me think of relational personalities instead of individual. Self as husband, father, son, brother, professor,…
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Boldness and fear make us quake
“The nickname of ‘the Trembler’ with which Sancho, the twelfth king of Navarre, was surnamed, teaches us that boldness as well as fear makes our limbs quake.” I.55 (p 276) “Of vain subtleties”