Never stop reading

Michel de Montaigne on the comfort of books

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One of my all-time favorite quotes about reading comes from Michel de Montaigne. Himself an avid reader, with a library of over 1000 books, he characterized his reading as a balm for the soul. As he put it:

“When I am attacked by gloomy thoughts, nothing helps me so much as running to my books. They quickly absorb me and banish the clouds from my mind.”

It’s a wonderfully honest reflection on what you might call the solace of reading.

Montaigne believed that we read for relaxation and instruction, but above all for the pleasure implicit in the act of reading as such. In Montaigne’s words,"I seek, in the reading of books, only to please myself by an honest diversion.”

He also followed a simple rule: Read for pleasure. And if you don’t enjoy a book, you don’t have to finish it. As he put it: “If I encounter difficulties in reading, I do not gnaw my nails over them; I leave them there. I do nothing without gaiety.’”

It’s an important reminder that reading should be, above all, something from which we derive pleasure. And sometimes our reading habits can change depending on the situation. We can read for instruction, for escapism, or education. But above all we should never forget to read the things we enjoy.

Montaigne was one of history’s great readers. At age 38 he retired from the court and took to his study. He felt he had dedicated the first half of his life to the world, now he wanted to dedicate the second half to his books (he lived to be 59). As he put it, he wanted to read and write, what he called drawing a self-portrait with his pen. And in so doing, he essentially invented the modern essay-form as we know it today.

What I like most about Montaigne’s attitude towards reading is that he encouraged us to read widely and with abandon. Instead of gatekeeping, he urged us to read with an open mind, and to allow ourselves to be surprised. In this sense, reading becomes an act of intellectual discovery inasmuch as it is an act of reminding ourselves who we are and why we read.

Which is to say, Montaigne didn’t read to impress anyone, he just read for himself. And if his study could be beneficial to others, than thus the better. But the main motivation was to make reading its own reward.

As he liked to say, “the greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.” And what better way to belong to oneself, than to pick up a good book, a beverage in hand, and be completely and utterly absorbed in one’s reading?

The true pleasure of reading is that we can always pick up a book and begin anew. And, as Montaigne teaches us, it’s never too late to make reading a lifelong habit. To make a fresh start, simply choose a book that looks interesting, pull up a chair, and begin to read. And if you don’t enjoy it, just read something else. Like any habit it can take some time to get into, but once you do it more frequently, little by little, you’ll likely find that reading is one of life’s great pleasures.

With love,

Julian

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