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about things which he cannot understand; and it is not so bad for him to be
in error as to be curious to no purpose.

The manner in which Epictetus, Montaigne, and Salomon de Tultie wrote is the
most usual, the most suggestive, the most remembered, and the oftenest
quoted, because it is entirely composed of thoughts born from the common
talk of life. As when we speak of the common error which exists among men
that the moon is the cause of everything, we never fail to say that Salomon
de Tultie says that, when we do not know the truth of a thing, it is of
advantage that there should exist a common error, etc.; which is the thought
above.

19. The last thing one settles in writing a book is what one should put in
first.

20. Order.--Why should I undertake to divide my virtues into four rather
than into six? Why should I rather establish virtue in four, in two, in one?
Why into Abstine et sustine[1] rather than into "Follow Nature," or,
"Conduct your private affairs without injustice," as Plato, or anything
else? But there, you will say, everything is contained in one word. Yes, but
it is useless without explanation, and when we come to explain it, as soon
as we unfold this maxim which contains all the rest, they emerge in that
first confusion which you desired to avoid. So, when they are all included
in one, they are hidden and useless, as in a chest, and never appear save in
their natural confusion. Nature has established them all without including
one in the other.

21. Nature has made all her truths independent of one another. Our art makes
one dependent on the other. But this is not natural. Each keeps its own