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Michel de Montaigne
1533 – 1592 · French Essayist, Statesman
Montaigne retired to his tower library at thirty-eight, invented the personal essay, and spent the rest of his life examining his own mind with ruthless honesty. He proved that self-knowledge is the hardest and most valuable discipline.
Quoted in these Footings
CTL-IX-0030“I sat with hard feelings instead of escaping them, and something in me grew.”CTL-IX-0051“I moved somewhere new and the loneliness is heavier than I expected.”CTL-IX-0054“I'm so scared of what might happen that I can't enjoy anything now.”CTL-VII-0051“I owned my limits out loud and stopped apologizing for having them.”CTL-VII-0055“I stopped trying to fix an old friend and just love them as they are.”CTL-IX-0064“I walled off my first hour for myself and it reshaped my entire life.”CTL-IX-0082“I led my team by holding back and trusting them, and it worked better than control ever did.”