“If my humors happen to please some worthy man… he will try to meet me. I give him a big advantage… for all (the) long acquaintance and familarity could have gained for him in several years, he can see in 3 days in this record, and more exactly.” – Michel de Montaigne

They never told me at school that you could aspire to be a man of letters, and that that has been a successful path for exceptional people for hundreds of years. I guess part of the point is that you have to figure it out yourself.

I was looking into this a while back when thinking about public intellectuals and scanning through history

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) was described as “arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history” – his parents were booksellers and he was literally born at home above his father’s bookshop

mersenne

voltaire, samuel johnson, JS mill, poe

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(2023apr23 thread) roon: it is possible to armchair quarterback so hard that you actually gain real power on the internet. kind of wild

Yes and: this was actually also possible before the internet, by writing letters, and I think that was the most egregious omissions from my education. But most educators are incompetent writers themselves so how would they teach you? You have to go searching yourself.

Noria Ohga, an opera and physics nerd, wrote himself into becoming Sony’s President.

Robert Pirosh, a copywriter, wrote himself into a new career as a screenwriter, and then an Oscar.

Erasmus wrote himself into significance, another bastard orphan who became mutuals with kings and popes.

Once you start looking you see the patterns. if you could get yourself into a position to learn to read and write (and tbf if you go back a few centuries, this requires luck and privilege), a path of real influence available to you if you were serious about it. Gertrude Stein helped make Picasso, with her “cult-writing”.

Montaigne was born very privileged and probably had access to Aristotle-tier tutors, which must’ve been part of why he saw this so clearly 500 years ago. Good writing will be your wingman to opportunity, and it never sleeps.

you can teach yourself to get people to care. it’s not that hard to figure out. The deeper question is – if you see that this is a game that can be played, is, will you? Are you serious?

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