What I consider, I usurp (Montaigne)
November 2nd, 2006 | Published in Friendship, Life, Quotes
Anyone I regard with attention easily imprints on me something of himself. What I consider, I usurp: a foolish countenance, an unpleasant grimace, a ridiculous way of speaking. Vices even more: once they prick me, the stick to me and will not go away without shaking.
–Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592), “On Some Verses of Virgil” in The Art of the Personal Essay by Phillip Lopate (1994), p. 92