Good sense is, of all things among men, the most equally distributed for every one thinks himself so abundantly provided with it, that thos even who are the most difficult to satisfy in everything else, do no usually desire a larger measure of this quality than they alread possess. And in this it is not likely that all are mistaken th conviction is rather to be held as testifying that the power of judgin aright and of distinguishing truth from error, which is properly wha is called good sense or reason, is by nature equal in all men; an that the diversity of our opinions, consequently, does not arise fro some being endowed with a larger share of reason than others, bu solely from this, that we conduct our thoughts along different ways and do not fix our attention on the same objects. For to be possesse of a vigorous mind is not enough; the prime requisite is rightly t apply it. The greatest minds, as they are capable of the highes excellences, are open likewise to the greatest aberrations; and thos who travel very slowly may yet make far greater progress, provided the keep always to the straight road, than those who, while they run forsake it

For myself, I have never fancied my mind to be in any respect mor perfect than those of the generality; on the contrary, I have ofte wished that I were equal to some others in promptitude of thought, o in clearness and distinctness of imagination, or in fullness an readiness of memory. And besides these, I know of no other qualitie that contribute to the perfection of the mind; for as to the reason o sense, inasmuch as it is that alone which constitutes us men, an distinguishes us from the brutes, I am disposed to believe that it i to be found complete in each individual; and on this point to adopt th common opinion of philosophers, who say that the difference of greate and less holds only among the accidents, and not among the forms o natures of individuals of the same species

I will not hesitate, however, to avow my belief that it has been m singular good fortune to have very early in life fallen in wit certain tracks which have conducted me to considerations and maxims, o which I have formed a method that gives me the means, as I think, o gradually augmenting my knowledge, and of raising it by little an little to the highest point which the mediocrity of my talents and th brief duration of my life will permit me to reach. For I have alread reaped from it such fruits that, although I have been accustomed t think lowly enough of myself, and although when I look with the eye o a philosopher at the varied courses and pursuits of mankind at large, find scarcely one which does not appear in vain and useless, nevertheless derive the highest satisfaction from the progress conceive myself to have already made in the search after truth, an cannot help entertaining such expectations of the future as to believ that if, among the occupations of men as men, there is any one reall excellent and important, it is that which I have chosen

After all, it is possible I may be mistaken; and it is but a littl copper and glass, perhaps, that I take for gold and diamonds. I kno how very liable we are to delusion in what relates to ourselves, an also how much the judgments of our friends are to be suspected whe given in our favor. But I shall endeavor in this discourse to describ the paths I have followed, and to delineate my life as in a picture, i order that each one may also be able to judge of them for himself, an that in the general opinion entertained of them, as gathered fro current report, I myself may have a new help towards instruction to b added to those I have been in the habit of employing

My present design, then, is not to teach the method which each ought t follow for the right conduct of his reason, but solely to describe th way in which I have endeavored to conduct my own. They who se themselves to give precepts must of course regard themselves a possessed of greater skill than those to whom they prescribe; and i they err in the slightest particular, they subject themselves t censure. But as this tract is put forth merely as a history, or, i you will, as a tale, in which, amid some examples worthy of imitation there will be found, perhaps, as many more which it were advisable no to follow, I hope it will prove useful to some without being hurtful t any, and that my openness will find some favor with all

From my childhood, I have been familiar with letters; and as I wa given to believe that by their help a clear and certain knowledge o all that is useful in life might be acquired, I was ardently desirou of instruction. But as soon as I had finished the entire course o study, at the close of which it is customary to be admitted into th order of the learned, I completely changed my opinion. For I foun myself involved in so many doubts and errors, that I was convinced had advanced no farther in all my attempts at learning, than th discovery at every turn of my own ignorance. And yet I was studying i one of the most celebrated schools in Europe, in which I thought ther must be learned men, if such were anywhere to be found. I had bee taught all that others learned there; and not contented with th sciences actually taught us, I had, in addition, read all the book that had fallen into my hands, treating of such branches as ar esteemed the most curious and rare. I knew the judgment which other had formed of me; and I did not find that I was considered inferior t my fellows, although there were among them some who were already marke out to fill the places of our instructors. And, in fine, our ag appeared to me as flourishing, and as fertile in powerful minds as an preceding one. I was thus led to take the liberty of judging of al other men by myself, and of concluding that there was no science i existence that was of such a nature as I had previously been given t believe

I still continued, however, to hold in esteem the studies of th schools. I was aware that the languages taught in them are necessar to the understanding of the writings of the ancients; that the grace o fable stirs the mind; that the memorable deeds of history elevate it and, if read with discretion, aid in forming the judgment; that th perusal of all excellent books is, as it were, to interview with th noblest men of past ages, who have written them, and even a studie interview, in which are discovered to us only their choicest thoughts that eloquence has incomparable force and beauty; that poesy has it ravishing graces and delights; that in the mathematics there are man refined discoveries eminently suited to gratify the inquisitive, a well as further all the arts an lessen the labour of man; that numerou highly useful precepts and exhortations to virtue are contained i treatises on morals; that theology points out the path to heaven; tha philosophy affords the means of discoursing with an appearance of trut on all matters, and commands the admiration of the more simple; tha jurisprudence, medicine, and the other sciences, secure for thei cultivators honors and riches; and, in fine, that it is useful t bestow some attention upon all, even upon those abounding the most i superstition and error, that we may be in a position to determine thei real value, and guard against being deceived

But I believed that I had already given sufficient time to languages and likewise to the reading of the writings of the ancients, to thei histories and fables. For to hold converse with those of other age and to travel, are almost the same thing. It is useful to kno something of the manners of different nations, that we may be enable to form a more correct judgment regarding our own, and be prevente from thinking that everything contrary to our customs is ridiculous an irrational, a conclusion usually come to by those whose experience ha been limited to their own country. On the other hand, when too muc time is occupied in traveling, we become strangers to our nativ country; and the over curious in the customs of the past are generall ignorant of those of the present. Besides, fictitious narratives lea us to imagine the possibility of many events that are impossible; an even the most faithful histories, if they do not wholly misrepresen matters, or exaggerate their importance to render the account of the more worthy of perusal, omit, at least, almost always the meanest an least striking of the attendant circumstances; hence it happens tha the remainder does not represent the truth, and that such as regulat their conduct by examples drawn from this source, are apt to fall int the extravagances of the knight-errants of romance, and to entertai projects that exceed their powers

I esteemed eloquence highly, and was in raptures with poesy; but thought that both were gifts of nature rather than fruits of study Those in whom the faculty of reason is predominant, and who mos skillfully dispose their thoughts with a view to render them clear an intelligible, are always the best able to persuade others of the trut of what they lay down, though they should speak only in the language o Lower Brittany, and be wholly ignorant of the rules of rhetoric; an those whose minds are stored with the most agreeable fancies, and wh can give expression to them with the greatest embellishment an harmony, are still the best poets, though unacquainted with the art o poetry

I was especially delighted with the mathematics, on account of th certitude and evidence of their reasonings; but I had not as yet precise knowledge of their true use; and thinking that they bu contributed to the advancement of the mechanical arts, I was astonishe that foundations, so strong and solid, should have had no loftie superstructure reared on them. On the other hand, I compared th disquisitions of the ancient moralists to very towering and magnificen palaces with no better foundation than sand and mud: they laud th virtues very highly, and exhibit them as estimable far above anythin on earth; but they give us no adequate criterion of virtue, an frequently that which they designate with so fine a name is but apathy or pride, or despair, or parricide

I revered our theology, and aspired as much as any one to reach heaven but being given assuredly to understand that the way is not less ope to the most ignorant than to the most learned, and that the reveale truths which lead to heaven are above our comprehension, I did no presume to subject them to the impotency of my reason; and I though that in order competently to undertake their examination, there wa need of some special help from heaven, and of being more than man

Of philosophy I will say nothing, except that when I saw that it ha been cultivated for many ages by the most distinguished men, and tha yet there is not a single matter within its sphere which is not stil in dispute, and nothing, therefore, which is above doubt, I did no presume to anticipate that my success would be greater in it than tha of others; and further, when I considered the number of conflictin opinions touching a single matter that may be upheld by learned men while there can be but one true, I reckoned as well-nigh false all tha was only probable

As to the other sciences, inasmuch as these borrow their principle from philosophy, I judged that no solid superstructures could be reare on foundations so infirm; and neither the honor nor the gain held ou by them was sufficient to determine me to their cultivation: for I wa not, thank Heaven, in a condition which compelled me to mak merchandise of science for the bettering of my fortune; and though might not profess to scorn glory as a cynic, I yet made very sligh account of that honor which I hoped to acquire only through fictitiou titles. And, in fine, of false sciences I thought I knew the wort sufficiently to escape being deceived by the professions of a alchemist, the predictions of an astrologer, the impostures of magician, or by the artifices and boasting of any of those who profes to know things of which they are ignorant

For these reasons, as soon as my age permitted me to pass from unde the control of my instructors, I entirely abandoned the study o letters, and resolved no longer to seek any other science than th knowledge of myself, or of the great book of the world. I spent th remainder of my youth in traveling, in visiting courts and armies, i holding intercourse with men of different dispositions and ranks, i collecting varied experience, in proving myself in the differen situations into which fortune threw me, and, above all, in making suc reflection on the matter of my experience as to secure my improvement For it occurred to me that I should find much more truth in th reasonings of each individual with reference to the affairs in which h is personally interested, and the issue of which must presently punis him if he has judged amiss, than in those conducted by a man of letter in his study, regarding speculative matters that are of no practica moment, and followed by no consequences to himself, farther, perhaps than that they foster his vanity the better the more remote they ar from common sense; requiring, as they must in this case, the exercis of greater ingenuity and art to render them probable. In addition, had always a most earnest desire to know how to distinguish the tru from the false, in order that I might be able clearly to discriminat the right path in life, and proceed in it with confidence

It is true that, while busied only in considering the manners of othe men, I found here, too, scarce any ground for settled conviction, an remarked hardly less contradiction among them than in the opinions o the philosophers. So that the greatest advantage I derived from th study consisted in this, that, observing many things which, howeve extravagant and ridiculous to our apprehension, are yet by commo consent received and approved by other great nations, I learned t entertain too decided a belief in regard to nothing of the truth o which I had been persuaded merely by example and custom; and thus gradually extricated myself from many errors powerful enough to darke our natural intelligence, and incapacitate us in great measure fro listening to reason. But after I had been occupied several years i thus studying the book of the world, and in essaying to gather som experience, I at length resolved to make myself an object of study, an to employ all the powers of my mind in choosing the paths I ought t follow, an undertaking which was accompanied with greater success tha it would have been had I never quitted my country or my books