We have the pleasures suitable to our lot; let us not usurp those of greatness. Ours are more natural and all the more solid and sure for being humbler. Since we will not do so out of conscience, at least out of ambition let us reject ambition.
Michel de MontaigneLove to his soul gave eyes; he knew things are not as they seem. The dream is his real life; the world around him is the dream.
Michel de MontaigneOh senseless man, who cannot possibly make a worm or a flea and yet will create Gods by the dozen!
Michel de MontaigneWhat we are told of the inhabitants of Brazil, that they never die but of old age, is attributed to the tranquility and serenity of their climate; I rather attribute it to the tranquility and serenity of their souls, which are free from all passion, thought, or any absorbing and unpleasant labors. Those people spend their lives in an admirable simplicity and ignorance, without letters, without law, without king, without any manner of religion.
Michel de Montaigne