degelle

“Presumption is our natural and original disease. The most wretched and frail of all creatures is man, and withal the proudest. He feels and sees himself lodged here in the dirt and filth of the world, nailed and rivetted to the worst and deadest part of the universe, in the lowest story of the house, the most remote from the heavenly arch, with animals of the worst condition of the three; and yet in his imagination will be placing himself above the circle of the moon, and bringing the heavens under his feet. 'Tis by the same vanity of imagination that he equals himself to God, attributes to himself divine qualities, withdraws and separates himself from the crowd of other creatures, cuts out the shares of the animals, his fellows and companions, and distributes to them portions of faculties and force, as himself thinks fit. How does he know, by the strength of his understanding, the secret and internal motions of animals?—from what comparison betwixt them and us does he conclude the stupidity he attributes to them? When I play with my cat, who knows whether I do not make her more sport than she makes me? We mutually divert one another with our play.”
― Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays

“The earth is my body, my head is in the stars.”
― Colin Higgins, Harold and Maude

“I’m finding that sincerity is often taken for stupidity.”
― Marilyn Monroe

“People have been taught to look for themselves in books — you always hear people saying this: 'I love this book, this character is just like me.' People have been taught to think of a book as a mirror, instead of a door, or a window. A way out.”
― Fran Lebowitz