It is the certainty that they possess the truth that makes men cruel. -Anatole France, novelist, essayist, Nobel laureate (1844-1924).
essayist
Francis Bacon: Root of all superstition
The root of all superstition is that men observe when a thing hits, but not when it misses. –Francis Bacon, essayist, philosopher, and statesman (1561-1626).

William Hazlitt: Fear of death

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Perhaps the best cure for the fear of death is to reflect that life has a beginning as well as an end. There was a time when you were not: that gives us no concern. Why then should it trouble us that a time will come when we shall cease to be? To die is only to be as we were before we were born. –William Hazlitt, essayist (1778-1830)
William Hazlitt: Pain
“The least pain in our little finger gives us more concern and uneasiness than the destruction of millions of our fellow-beings.”
—William Hazlitt, essayist (1778-1830).
Michel de Montaigne: Firm belief
Nothing is so firmly believed as what is least known. -Michel de Montaigne, essayist (1533-1592)
Anatole France: Average men and lives
The average man, who does not know what to do with his life, wants another one which will last forever. -Anatole France, novelist, essayist, Nobel laureate (1844-1924)
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr: Superstition
We are all tattooed in our cradles with the beliefs of our tribe; the record may seem superficial, but it is indelible. You cannot educate a man wholly out of the superstitious fears which were implanted in his imagination, no matter how utterly his reason may reject them. -Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr, poet, novelist, essayist, and physician (1809-1894)
William Hazlitt: Familiarity, contempt and admiration
“Though familiarity may not breed contempt, it takes off the edge of admiration.”
—William Hazlitt, essayist (1778-1830).
Michel de Montaigne: Own legs, own bottom

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No matter that we may mount on stilts, we still must walk on our own legs. And on the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom. –Michel de Montaigne, essayist (1533-1592)
Michel de Montaigne: Differences

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There is as much difference between us and ourselves as between us and others. –Michel de Montaigne, essayist (1533-1592)
Anatole France: Dictionary
Dictionary: The universe in alphabetical order. -Anatole France, novelist, essayist, Nobel laureate (1844-1924).
Joseph Joubert: Echoes

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We are all of us more or less echoes, repeating involuntarily the virtues, the defects, the movements, and the characters of those among whom we live. –Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)
Jose Ortega Y Gasset: Me and my surroundings

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I am I plus my surroundings and if I do not preserve the latter, I do not preserve myself. –Jose Ortega Y Gasset, philosopher and essayist (1883-1955)

Michel de Montaigne: Cast in the same mold
The souls of emperors and cobblers are cast in the same mold. The same reason that makes us wrangle with a neighbor creates a war betwixt princes. -Michel de Montaigne, essayist (1533-1592)
Frederick Saunders: Pride
Pride, like laudanum and other poisonous medicines, is beneficial in small, though injurious in large, quantities. No man who is not pleased with himself, even in a personal sense, can please others. -Frederick Saunders, librarian and essayist (1807-1902)
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr: Wind and water power

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Laughter and tears are meant to turn the wheels of the same machinery of sensibility; one is wind-power, and the other water-power. –Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., poet, novelist, essayist, and physician (1809-1894)

Michel de Montaigne: Truth
I speak the truth not so much as I would, but as much as I dare, and I dare a little more as I grow older. –Michel de Montaigne, essayist (1533-1592)