March 11. Discussion of Montaigne's opinions on just about everything

Sixteenth century commentator Michel de Montaigne had a refreshingly modern view of the world based on his extensive reading of the ancients. To him we owe such observations as:

• Nothing is so firmly believed as that which least is known.
• Not being able to govern events, I govern myself.
• No man is a hero to his own valet.
• The only thing certain is nothing is certain.
• To forbid us anything is to make us have a mind for it.
• Life in itself is neither good nor evil, it is the place of good and evil, according to what you make it.

And for all the feline friends out there:

When I play with my cat, how do I know that she is not passing time with me rather than I with her?

An recent essay on Montaigne entitled "Addle-pated Modernist" in the Spectator magazine is at http://www.spectator.co.uk/spectator/thisweek/5686453/addlepated-modernist.thtml