"We have more curiosity than understanding. We grasp at everything, but catch nothing except wind."

Michel de Montaigne himself.

Love that quote! Seems especially fitting at times for the things we discuss in HUST (or perhaps me in Physics class). It comes from the very top of page 106 in the reading from Montaigne, "On Friendship" and "On Cannibalism" (2 hilariously different topics, in my opinion). It makes me wonder how much we really know for sure. I don't know, I don't really have a definitive response to this quote, but I thought I would bring it to your attention in case you hadn't already noticed it. It's kind of like the way he opens it, by stating that he wants to appear simple and natural, and that it is himself that he is going to portray. I like that: he is writing about what he knows best.

I enjoyed the Friendship reading too, but thought it a bit eerie the level of emotional investment this guy had in his friendships. I could see being extremely devoted to a lover or something like that, but on page 97 he discusses "some inexplicable power of destiny that brought about our union. We were looking for each other before we met..." That sounds awesome, but I'm not sure how much I believe in that. Don't get me wrong, friendships are great! No one likes friendships more than me! I am lacking in comments so if you see this and comment on it I'll send you my life story in a minute or less. But the friends I have, I met by chance - I doubt I would have my HUSTies if I never became a major, for example. I wonder why Montaigne seemed to be so invested in his friendships.

One final thing I thought I would bring up here is the matter of what Montaigne has to say about women, as seen in both the Friendship and Cannibalism books. In the former, he doubts that females have the capacities to undertake the relationships he talks about having with his friends. He states that "their souls do not seem firm enough to bear the strain of so hard and lasting a tie." Why? I disagree. On the other hand, in the Cannibalism book, he says of women that "some of their women employ themselves in the meantime with the warming of their drink, which is their principal duty." Why is that the women's principal duty? Did you notice any other comments about women in this article too?