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Philosophical Haiku

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)

by Terence Green

Turn your gaze inward
Observe your own finite self
Behold – feeble man.

For much of Montaigne’s life, it was highly fashionable for Protestants and Catholics to kill each other. For a man of delicate sensibilities like Montaigne, the Wars of Religion were altogether distasteful, not to mention just plain inconvenient. Luckily for a man of delicate sensibilities, Montaigne was the heir to a decent fortune, a considerable estate, and a delightful château, and so in 1571 he locked himself away in it and turned his attention to something much more pleasant – namely, himself.

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