Michel de Montaigne on Philosophy 1580
Channel: Age of Enlightenment
Date: 2015-10-30

Michel de Montaigne was a single individual who liked to read and write.

The intellectual education of Montaigne was assigned to a German tutor. At the age of 38 he quit working and began to actually read the books he had in his gigantic library. He lived from 1533-1592.

The end of our race is death; 'tis the necessary object of our aim,
which, if it fright us, how is it possible to advance a step without a
fit of ague? The remedy the vulgar use is not to think on't; but from
what brutish stupidity can they derive so gross a blindness? They must bridle the ass by the tail:

          "Qui capite ipse suo instituit vestigia retro,"

 "Who in his folly seeks to advance backwards"--Lucretius, iv. 474
'tis no wonder if he be often trapped in the pitfall.

Read the text here.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Essays_of_Montaigne