-
Contraction of the mind
“There is no end to our researches; our end is in the other world. It is a sign of contraction of the mind when it is content, or of weariness. A spirited mind never stops within itself; it is always aspiring and going beyond its strength; it has impulses beyond its powers of achievement. If…
-
Cure for ignorance
“Anyone who wants to be cured of ignorance must confess it.” III.11 Of cripples (p. 959)
-
The empty husks that strike us
“It takes little to divert and distract us, for it takes little to hold us. We scarcely look at things in gross and alone; it is the minute and superficial circumstances and notions that strike us, and the empty husks that peel off from the things…” III.4 “Of diversion” (p. 770)
-
Repentance
“God must touch our hearts. Our conscience must reform by itself through the strengthening of our reason, not through the weakening of our appetites.” III.2 “Of repentance” (p. 740)
-
There is profit in change
“That is what Seneca says, which has carried me away from my subject; but there is profit in change.” II.25 “Not to counterfeit being sick” (p. 634) (I think it’s interesting that here we see an example of Montaigne acknowledging his digression, yet also commenting on the digression itself as if examining his own…
-
Secrets of the divine
“… a whole pile of people… clai[m] to find the causes of every incident and to see in the secrets of the divine will the incomprehensible motives of his works; and although the variety and continual discordance of events tosses them from corner to corner and from east to west, yet they do not stop…
-
Neither good nor useful
“It is a marvelous testimony of the weakness of our judgment that it recommends things for their rarity or novelty, or even for their difficulty, even if they are neither good nor useful.” I.54 “Of vain subtleties” (p. 274)
-
Some other tags
This is a post to hold some other tags that will be useful later.