Book 3, Essays - Series 2: Chapter 14, Montaigne, Napoleon, Goethe Summary and Analysis

These are three other "giants" of European society after the Renaissance. In the first of these Emerson writes of life's principles and circumstances using the analogy of their being two sides to a coin. Thoughts of one are truly connected with thoughts of the other. One example he uses to show his meaning is how a financially successful career man is also living in a "bought and sold" manner thanks to what he will do to continue to be financially included. "Infinite and Finite; Relative and Absolute; Apparent and Real," (p. 690) further clarifies this. Later, he states that people confide in those who are their peers. Emerson's writes of Montaigne, that when France was rife with internal strife, Montaigne was able to keep his own estate defenseless...