The dialogue between Montaigne and others, like a literary game of mirrors, is one of the most original aspects of the Essays. Montaigne engages in self-reflection through books and comments on these books not to cast himself in a favorable light, but because he recognizes himself in them. As he observes in the chapter, “On the Education of Children,” “neither have I said so much of others, but to get a better opportunity to explain myself” (I, 25).
— Antoine Compagnon, A Summer with Montaigne: On the Art of Living Well
Someone once remarked to me about my writing: It’s interesting that you rely on an external spark (quotation, anecdote, found phrase). You’re never starting from a vacuum; you’re starting from friction with something that already exists. Yes, I said; as much as I might like to pretend that I’m purposefully following in the humanist commonplace-book tradition, the truth is that I learned it from the old blogosphere, where it was standard. I like to keep that old spirit alive, of pointing to things I’ve found funny or interesting in case someone else might enjoy them too. I always liked the idea of writing as part of an ongoing dialogue, rather than ex cathedra pronouncements from a self-absorbed writer alone in his study. It makes my site a salon, not a pulpit. A good quotation isn’t to end an argument, it’s to start a conversation — with the author, with the reader, with my multitude of selves.