Take Repose

We are great fools. ‘He has passed over his life in idleness,’ say we: ‘I have done nothing to-day.’ What? Have you not lived? That is not only the fundamental, but the most illustrious of all your occupations. ‘Had I been put to the management of great affairs, I should have made it seen what I could do.’ Have you known how to meditate and manage your life, you have performed the greatest work on all. For a man to show and set out himself, nature has no need of fortune; she equally manifests herself in all stages, and behind a curtain as well as without one. Have you known how to regulate your conduct, you have done a great deal more than he who has composed books. Have you known how to take repose, you have done more than he who has taken cities and empires. Montaign