The Complete Essays by Michel de MontaigneThis collection, which gave us the term "essay", is a fun collection to read through in one's spare time. The topics vary, sometimes repeat, but are always quite interesting and relevant, even today.
Some of my notes:
His chapter on Animal intelligence is very interesting, not least because we are still having that argument today. When a bird can memorize hundreds of locations, or a mouse can learn to press a certain lever, we still call it instinct, while when a human can we call it intelligence.
Appollonius: Slaves lie. Freemen tell the truth.
Cesar was a great general, but spent more time discussing his engineering achievements because he wanted to be known as a great engineer
"Let him shun this childish ambition of trying to seem more clever by being different"
"Oh stranger you say what you should. But otherwise than you should."
"I would rather follow facts than reason"
But wow. His views on women seem crazy, even for his time. Unless he was being facetious, which I admit was usually difficult to tell. Especially in sections where he admonishes people for quoting famous personages, and says he'd just as soon quote his local villagers, while all his essays (including that one) are interspersed with quotes from famous people.
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