"From now on, Montaigne would live for himself rather than for duty."

"The great stoic Seneca repeatedly urged his fellow Romans to retire in order to “find themselves,” as we might put it…"

"Seneca, in advising retirement, had also warned of dangers. In a dialogue called “On Tranquility of Mind,” he wrote t…"

"As Seneca put it, life does not pause to remind you that it is running out. The only one who can keep you mindful of …"

"The trick is to maintain a kind of naïve amazement at each instant of experience—but, as Montaigne learned, one of th…"

"The philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty called Montaigne a writer who put “a consciousness astonished at itself at the …"

"Knowing that the life that remained to him could not be of great length, he said, “I try to increase it in weight, I …"

"The peasantry … were the true philosophers of the modern world, the heirs to classical sages such as Seneca and Socra…"

"The unusual treatment began soon after his birth, when Micheau was sent to live with a humble family in a nearby vill…"

"The hedonistic approach to education did make a difference to him [Montaigne]. Having been guided early in life by hi…"