{"id":6726,"date":"2025-07-08T14:30:53","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T14:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/?p=6726"},"modified":"2025-08-23T23:22:24","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T23:22:24","slug":"on-solitude-michel-de-montaigne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2025\/07\/08\/on-solitude-michel-de-montaigne\/","title":{"rendered":"On Solitude*, Michel de Montaigne"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">* <em><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-purple-color\">On Solitude, Michel de Montaigne (Penguin Books, 1991, trans. M. A. Screech)<\/mark><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the first time I have read Montaigne, a little surprising since he is the originator of the essay form. I am not sure whether I will appreciate him\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Later: Montaigne&#8217;s essays are just not engaging me. But I am struck by the way he is engages in dialog with scholars and others who have come before. I don&#8217;t really resonate with the topics and language in play, but it would be interesting for me to try to do something similar with people who have influenced me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-light-blue ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2025\/07\/08\/on-solitude-michel-de-montaigne\/#E1_On_Solitude\" >E1: On Solitude<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2025\/07\/08\/on-solitude-michel-de-montaigne\/#On_Books\" >On Books<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2025\/07\/08\/on-solitude-michel-de-montaigne\/#On_the_Power_of_the_Imagination\" >On the Power of the Imagination<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2025\/07\/08\/on-solitude-michel-de-montaigne\/#On_Sadness\" >On Sadness<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2025\/07\/08\/on-solitude-michel-de-montaigne\/#On_Constancy\" >On Constancy<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2025\/07\/08\/on-solitude-michel-de-montaigne\/#On_Fear\" >On Fear<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2025\/07\/08\/on-solitude-michel-de-montaigne\/#How_Our_Mind_Tangles_Itself_Up\" >How Our Mind Tangles Itself Up<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2025\/07\/08\/on-solitude-michel-de-montaigne\/#On_Conscience\" >On Conscience<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2025\/07\/08\/on-solitude-michel-de-montaigne\/#On_Anger\" >On Anger<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2025\/07\/08\/on-solitude-michel-de-montaigne\/#On_Virtue\" >On Virtue<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2025\/07\/08\/on-solitude-michel-de-montaigne\/#On_Sleep\" >On Sleep<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2025\/07\/08\/on-solitude-michel-de-montaigne\/#On_the_Length_of_Life\" >On the Length of Life<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2025\/07\/08\/on-solitude-michel-de-montaigne\/#How_we_Weep_and_Laugh_at_the_Same_Thing\" >How we Weep and Laugh at the Same Thing<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-14\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2025\/07\/08\/on-solitude-michel-de-montaigne\/#i\" >#  #  #<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"E1_On_Solitude\"><\/span>E1: On Solitude<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This eponymous essay Is written from the vantage point of a man in the \u201ctail-end of life,\u201d and explores the virtues of solitude. I was struck by how much, and how widely, he quotes from the classical literature. Hoarce, Seneca, Cicero, Erasamus, Socrates. The general theme is about the advisability and wisdom of withdrawing from public life, and the vices attendant in that and in the majority of people. Instead, he advocates turning inward, and cultivating one\u2019s own happiness and virtue in a what seems to me a stoic fashion. This essay did not, in general speak to me, though there were a couple of quotes I liked.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe have lived quite enough for others; let us live at least this tail-end of life for ourselves. Let us bring our thoughts and reflections back to ourselves and to our own well-being\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2013<em>ibid.&nbsp;<\/em>On Solitude, p. 9<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf a hangover came before we got drunk we would see that we never drank to excess: but pleasure, to deceive us, walks in front and hides her train.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2013<em>ibid.&nbsp;<\/em>On Solitude, p. 9<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"On_Books\"><\/span>On Books<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TBD<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"On_the_Power_of_the_Imagination\"><\/span>On the Power of the Imagination<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TBD<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"On_Sadness\"><\/span>On Sadness<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TBD<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"On_Constancy\"><\/span>On Constancy<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TBD<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"On_Fear\"><\/span>On Fear<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TBD<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_Our_Mind_Tangles_Itself_Up\"><\/span>How Our Mind Tangles Itself Up<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TBD<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"On_Conscience\"><\/span>On Conscience <span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TBD<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"On_Anger\"><\/span>On Anger<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TBD<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"On_Virtue\"><\/span>On Virtue<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TBD<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"On_Sleep\"><\/span>On Sleep<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TBD<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"On_the_Length_of_Life\"><\/span>On the Length of Life<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TBD<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_we_Weep_and_Laugh_at_the_Same_Thing\"><\/span>How we Weep and Laugh at the Same Thing<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TBD<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"i\"><\/span>#  #  #<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Views: 51<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>* On Solitude, Michel de Montaigne (Penguin Books, 1991, trans. M. A. Screech) This is the first time I have read Montaigne, a little surprising since he is the originator of the essay form. I am not sure whether I will appreciate him\u2026 Later: Montaigne&#8217;s essays are just not engaging me. But I am struck &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2025\/07\/08\/on-solitude-michel-de-montaigne\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">On Solitude*, Michel de Montaigne<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,41,78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-notes","category-essays","category-now-reading"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6726"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6865,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6726\/revisions\/6865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}