“Evil fortune does have some use: it is a good thing to be born in a century which is deeply depraved, for by comparison with others you are reckoned virtuous on the cheap.” That’s our old friend Michel de Montaigne. I’ve read a few pages of his Essays every morning of 2026, and every morning I find some wonderful 400-year-old line that speaks directly to my present moment. (Old books are time machines.) If you don’t know Montaigne’s work, check out Stefan Zweig’s short biography, written in exile during World War II. My friend Ryan Holiday loves the book so much he bought a thousand copies to stock at The Painted Porch before it went out of print. (Montaigne was an influence on my book Keep Going, and I wrote more about his famous tower in my letter, “Room To Think.”)
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