WHERE one scale of the balance is quite empty, I let the other waver 

 under the dreams of an old woman. 



Nonsense is a scurvy quality ; but not to be able to bear with it, and 

 to fret and vex at it, is another sort of disease, altogether as troublesome 



Moreover, vulgar and casual opinions, considered in their weight, are 

 indeed something more than nothing in nature. 



All such whimsies as are current about us deserve at least to be 

 hearkened unto. As to me, they are all mere vanity ; and that is what they 

 really import. As to every opposition, we don't consider whether it be 

 just, but how we shall, right or wrong, disengage ourselves from it. 

 Instead of extending our arms, we thrust out our claws. 



I could suffer myself to be roughly handled by my friends telling me 

 I am a fool and a dreamer. I love to hear gentlemen speak as they think, 

 with courage. We must fortify and harden our organ of hearing against 

 this ceremonious sound of words. I love a strong and manly familiarity 

 and conversation, a friendship that is pleased with the sharpness and 

 vigor of its communications, as love is with biting and scratching. 'Tis 

 not vigorous or generous enough if it be not quarrelsome, if it be civilized 

 and artificial, if it treads gingerly and is afraid of a shock. 



Neque enim disputari sjne reprehensione potest. I incline towards 

 him who contradicts and instructs me. I enter into a conference and dis- 

 pute with great freedom and ease, forasmuch as opinion meets in me a 

 soil very unfit for penetration, and too hard for it to take any deep root 

 in. No proposition astonishes me, no belief offends me, how contrary 

 soever it be to my own. 



There is no fancy so frivolous and extravagant that it does not seem to 

 me to be a very suitable product of the human understanding. 



MICHAEL SEIGNEUR DE MONTAIGNE. 



