Even if I hit a difficult point while reading, I won't pinch my nails forever. I try to charge at it once or twice and leave it as it is.

Montaigne

The 16th-century French thinker says that it is because strained nerves make him exhausted and become slow to judge. He adds that he looks at it again from various angles after retreating once to make a pause. From “Essay 3” (translated by Shiro Miyashita). An excellent book has different looks each time we read it. It is because the interest of readers is changing. I have bought three copies of the same book because the pages are full of red lines.

"November 6  2019

from “Oriori no Kotoba” by Kiyokazu Washida, The Asahi Shimbun"