It is much better to be tied to one wonderful thing than to allow a mere catalog of wonderful things to deprive you of the capacity to wonder.
G. K. Chesterton
Of all forms of literature, however, the essay is the one which least calls for the use of long words.
Virginia Woolf
Were we to illuminate the most ordinary, common, and familiar of things, then the greatest miracles of nature and the most marvelous examples, especially concerning human actions, might be formed.
Michel de Montaigne
Others have taken heart to speak of themselves because they found the subject worthy and rich; I, on the contrary, because I have found mine so pointless and so meager that no one could suspect me of ostentation.
Michel de Montaigne
Everything I see or hear is an essay in bud. The world is everywhere whispering essays, and one need only be the world’s amanuensis.
Alexander Smith
[The "light" essay] offers no instruction, save through the medium of enjoyment, and one saunters lazily along with a charming unconsciousness of effort.
Agnes Repplier
The task of the essayist is to collect the fruit of his experience, reflect on it, and set it out for our consideration.
Ian Jack
The world is not so much in need of new thoughts as that when thought grows old and worn with usage it should, like current coin, be called in, and, from the mint of genius, reissued fresh and new.
Alexander Smith
And on the loftiest throne in the world we are still sitting only on our own rump.
Michel de Montaigne
One can tie up all moral philosophy with an ordinary and private life just as easily as with a life of richer stuff: Each person bears the entire form of the human condition.
Michel de Montaigne
As it maps the territory of the self, the essay details the particulars of everyday life…. The wonder is not that art can be made of such ordinary stuff, but that we should expect it to be found anywhere else.
G. Douglas Atkins
As for me … I enjoy living among pedestrians who have an instinctive and habitual realization that there is more to a journey than the mere fact of arrival.
E. B. White

People

Quote of the Day

By Christopher Spiker November 18, 2010 - 6:09pm
Christopher Spiker

From The Ped­es­tri­an No. 2, Jenn Bris­endine es­says on the use of Shakespeare for cop­ing with the day-to-day chal­lenges of be­ing a mom:

Montaigne and the Blog

By Christopher Spiker November 16, 2010 - 10:27am
Christopher Spiker

A nice art­icle by Sarah Bakewell, au­thor of How To Live: A Life of Mon­taigne in One Ques­tion and Twenty-One An­swers, in the Par­is Re­view: “What Blog­gers Owe Mon­taigne".

Quote of the Day

By Christopher Spiker November 14, 2010 - 2:20pm
Christopher Spiker

From the es­say “Aus­culta­tion” by Steven Church, one of three ori­gin­al es­says in­cluded in The Ped­es­tri­an No. 2:

Quote of the Day

By Christopher Spiker November 13, 2010 - 11:29am
Christopher Spiker
A sponge bath, a scrap of sturdy ash ply­wood from a dress­er draw­er aban­doned at curb­side, eight scav­enged brass screws to at­tach the ply­wood to the un­der­side of the seat, and a black ma­gic mark­er to mask the spat­ters of white paint: this is how the chair was res­cued.

From the es­say “Scav­en&s

Quote of the Day

By Christopher Spiker November 12, 2010 - 4:30pm
Christopher Spiker

Phyl­lis Rose, in her es­say “Tools of Tor­ture", takes a can­did look at the dark side of tools, a look that is all the more chilling for ex­pos­ing the his­tor­ic­ally mundane and prag­mat­ic pro­cess of tor­ture – a pro­cess that is not so dif­fer­ent from that of beau­ti­fic­a­tion, like a trip to the spa.

Quote of the Day – Tools Edition

By Christopher Spiker November 6, 2010 - 9:06am
Christopher Spiker

E. B. White is per­haps best known as the au­thor of books for chil­dren, such as Char­lotte's Web or Stu­art Little. But he was also a mas­ter­fully en­ter­tain­ing es­say­ist – not to men­tion an ex­em­plar of ped­es­tri­an­ism. Is­sue No.

Quote of the Day – Tools Edition

By Christopher Spiker October 19, 2010 - 11:37pm
Christopher Spiker

From a clas­sic es­say, re­prin­ted in the forth­com­ing is­sue on Tools:

Quote of the Day

By Christopher Spiker October 15, 2010 - 1:32pm
Christopher Spiker

A writer in the fa­mil­i­ar style speaks in an un­buttoned mood. He com­pletely ex­poses his weak­ness, and is there­fore dis­arm­ing.

Sci-fi Orange Masks and Wal-Mart Greeters

By Christopher Spiker October 5, 2010 - 10:35am
Christopher Spiker

From the blog of writer Philip Gra­ham, two re­cent posts worth a look:

HT: BREVITY

Quote of the Day

By Christopher Spiker October 3, 2010 - 7:11pm
Christopher Spiker

Tony Hiss, in the current is­sue of The Amer­ic­an Schol­ar, has writ­ten a won­der­ful es­say called “Won­der­lust: how ‘deep travel’ opens our minds to the rich pos­sib­il­it­ies of or­din­ary ex­per&sh

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