I say, therefore, that every one of us feeble creatures is excusable i… — Essays
SAPIR 861
I say, therefore, that every one of us feeble creatures is excusable in thinking that to be his own which is comprised under this measure; but withal, beyond these limits, 'tis nothing but confusion; 'tis the largest extent we can grant to our own claims. The more we amplify our need and our possession, so much the more do we expose ourselves to the blows of Fortune and adversities. The career of our desires ought to be circumscribed and restrained to a short limit of the nearest and most contiguous commodities; and their course ought, moreover, to be performed not in a right line, that ends elsewhere, but in a circle, of which the two points, by a short wheel, meet and terminate in ourselves. Actions that are carried on without this reflection--a near and essential reflection, I mean--such as those of ambitious and avaricious men, and so many more as run point-blank, and to whose career
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (WLC), CC BY 4.0