Montaigne, "On the Art of Conversation" (from the Essays)
There may be some persons of my temperament who learn more by avoidance
than by imitation, and by shunning than by following. It was this sort
of teaching that the elder Cato had in mind when he said that wise men
have more to learn from fools than fools from wise men; and that ancient
player on the lyre also, who, according to Pausanias's story, was in the
habit of making his pupils go and listen to a wretched strummer who
lived across the way, where they might learn to hate his discords and
false measures. Horror of cruelty impels me more strongly towards
clemency than any example of clemency could attract me to it. A good
horseman does not correct my seat as well as a lawyer or a Venetian on
horseback; and a bad style of speaking improves mine more than a good
one. Every day another's foolish behaviour gives me warning and
admonishment; a sting touches and arouses us better than something
pleasant. These times arc not fitted to reform us except by reaction, by
disagreement more than by agreement, by difference rather than by
accord. Having learnt little from good examples, I make use of bad ones,
which offer me everyday lessons. I have endeavoured to make myself as
agreeable as I find others rude, as firm as I find others pliable, as
mild as I have seen them harsh. But I set myself unattainable standards.
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