Si on me presse de dire pourquoi je l'aimais, je sens que cela ne se peut exprimer, qu'en répondant: « Parce que c'était lui; parce que c'était moi. » - Michel de Montaigne

Parce que c'était lui, parce que c'était moi.

It is only certain that there is nothing certain, and that nothing is more miserable or more proud than man.

Virtue refuses facility for her companion … the easy, gentle, and sloping path that guides the footsteps of a good natural disposition is not the path of true virtue. It demands a rough and thorny road.

I have not seen anywhere in the world a more obvious malformed person and miracle than myself. Through use and time we become conditioned to anything strange; but the more I become familiar with and know myself, the more my deformity amazes me and the less I understand myself.