“At the gates of the forest, the surprised man of the world is forced to leave his city estimates of great and small, wise and foolish. The knapsack of custom falls off his back with the first step he makes into these precincts. Here is sanctity which shames our religions, and reality which discredits our heroes. Here we find Nature to be the circumstance which dwarfs every other circumstance, and judges like a god all men that come to her.” MenWorldFirstsRealityFallCitiesStepsWiseJudgingHeroCircumstancesShameFoolishForestsGatesCustomsFirst StepsSanctityDwarfsDiscredit Book:Essays and Lectures Source: Essays and Lectures
“A man may by custom fortify himself against pain, shame, and suchlike accidents; but as to death, we can experience it but once, and are all apprentices when we come to it” MenMayPainShameAccidentsCustomsApprentice Book:Michel de Montaigne: Selected Essays Source: Michel de Montaigne: Selected Essays
“Religion and nationalism, as well as any custom and any belief however absurd and degrading, if it only connects the individual with others, are refuges from what man most dreads: isolation.” IfsMenWellsIndividualBeliefAbsurdIsolationNationalismCustomsDreadRefugeDegrading Book:Escape from Freedom Source: Escape from Freedom