popularized the essay

"... on the loftiest throne in the world we are still sitting on our own behind."
- Michel de Montaigne [1533-1592]

sieve

"It is consoling to think that reading a lot, forgetting most of it and being slow-witted might add up to a good way of living."
- Andrew Sullivan explores here.

all he wanted to do was think

The creator of the essay, Michel de Montaigne [1533-1592], said "I think I know"; one step further, René Descartes [1596-1650] declared "I think, therefore I am." and that one can doubt everything, but not that one is doubting.