The Book of Montaigne 2 · Written in his tower, from his Essays
This man wrote his own book, so nothing here is another man’s record of him. He differs from the rest of this scripture: the others set down what they believed, and he sets down what he is. Where he contradicts himself he did not strike it out, and neither does this scripture.
2.1Whoever takes a man for one whole thing has him wrong.
2.2We are put together in pieces, loosely, and every piece goes its own way.
2.3The same man is brave today and craven tomorrow, open-handed now and grasping an hour later.
2.4He is not pretending. He was himself both times.
2.5Reading the lives the ancients wrote, I used to wonder how those men managed to be one thing all their lives.
2.6Then I understood: the writer tidied them.
2.7I do not tidy myself.
2.8Some reproach me with inconsistency. I say: you are right, that is exactly what I am.
2.9If you want a man who is the same throughout his life, you want a statue, not a man.
2.10Why does this matter? Because when you examine yourself, the thing you are examining will not hold still.
2.11The self you saw clearly yesterday is no longer standing there today.
2.12So examining is not something done once. It is done daily. (cf. The Rule 1.3)
2.13A man who saw clearly once and thinks he has finished is looking at an old picture.
2.14I have written this book for twenty years. Where the ends of it quarrel, I have not rubbed out one line.