"...among the philosophers, those who have wanted to attain some greater excellence have not been content to await the rigors of fortune in shelter and repose, for fear she might surprise them inexperienced and new to the combat; rather they have gone forth to meet her and have flung themselves deliberately into the test of difficulties. Some of them have abandoned riches to practice a voluntary poverty; others have sought labor and a painful austerity of life to harden themselves against hardship and toil; others have deprived themselves of the most precious parts of the body, such as sight and the members proper to generation, for fear that these services, too pleasant and soft, might relax and soften the firmness of their soul."
- Montaigne
3 comments:
Reminds me of my aunt Mabel.
It is rather Calvinist.
Never trust an overfed philosopher.
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