If you don't know how to die, don't worry; Nature will tell you what to do on the spot, fully and adequately. She will do this job perfectly for you; don't bother your head about it.

More from Michele de Montaigne

• Dreams are faithful interpreters of our inclinations; but there is art required to sort and understand them.
• Accept loss forever
• A change in the weather is sufficient to recreate the world and ourselves.
• A chief event of life is the day in which we have encountered a mind that startled us.
• A chief event of life is the day in which we have encountered a mind that startled us. Essays, "Character," 1844
• A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty Is worth a whole eternity in bondage.