All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
Michel De MontaigneRead
We must reserve a back shop all our own entirely free, in which to establish our real liberty and our principal retreat and solitude.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of having a personal space for freedom and introspection.
Montaigne suggests that everyone needs a private sanctuary where they can reflect and cultivate their true sense of liberty. This 'back shop' serves as a retreat from the chaos of life, allowing for personal growth and authentic self-expression, underscoring the necessity of solitude for deep thought and freedom.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of mental health, one might say, 'As Montaigne noted, we must reserve a back shop all our own to reflect on our true liberty.'
All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed.
Pythagoras used to say that life resembles the Olympic Games: a few people strain their muscles to carry off a prize; others bring trinkets to sell to the crowd for gain; and some there are, and not the worst, who seek no other profit than to look at the show and see how and why everything is done; spectators of the life of other people in order to judge and regulate their own.
There is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state.
Those who have compared our life to a dream were right... we were sleeping wake, and waking sleep.
Such as are in immediate fear of a losing their estates, of banishment, or of slavery, live in perpetual anguish, and lose all appetite and repose; whereas such as are actually poor, slaves, or exiles, ofttimes live as merrily as other folk.
If we never arrived anywhere, it did not matter. Between that earth and that sky i felt erased, blotted out. I did not say my prayers that night: here, i felt what would be would be.
We are afraid of losing what we have.
In the gun game, we are the most hunted. The river of blood that washes the streets of our nation flows mostly from the bodies of our black children.
If you go to Heaven without being naturally qualified for it you will not enjoy yourself there.
Laissez faire does not mean: let soulless mechanical forces operate. It means: let individuals choose how they want to cooperate in the social division of labor and let them determine what the entrepreneurs should produce.
You cannot tackle hunger, disease, and poverty unless you can also provide people with a healthy ecosystem in which their economies can grow.
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