Andrew J

“The time is now proper for us to reform backward; more by dissenting than by agreeing; by differing more than by consent.”
― Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays

“No one is exempt from talking nonsense; the misfortune is to do it solemnly”
― Michel de Montaigne

“There have been many plagues in the world as there have been wars, yet plagues and wars always find people equally unprepared. [...] When a war breaks out people say: 'It won't last, it's too stupid.' And war is certainly too stupid, but that doesn't prevent it from lasting. Stupidity always carries doggedly on, as people wold notice if they were not always thinking about themselves. In this respect, the citizens of Oran were like the rest of the world, they thought about themselves, in other words, they were humanists: they did not believe in pestilence. A pestilence does not have human dimensions, so people tell themselves that it is unreal, that it is a bad dream which will end. But it does not always end and, from one bad dream to the next, it is people who end, humanists first of all because they have not prepared themselves.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“We can be knowledgeable with another man's knowledge, but we can't be wise with another man's wisdom.”
― Michel de Montaigne