petronia | Brillat-Savarin

A dude to aspire to, like Marcus Aurelius. Had money, intelligence, family, friends, hobbies, and work-life balance; was widely read, invented gadgets and recipes, played a Stradivarius, was a well-liked boss and local politician by all accounts, threw great dinner parties, and survived the French Revolution in fine style. XD; Starts his book by complaining that French was not the best language for his purposes, if you can believe it: no patience for Academic protectionism, seems to be an admirer of the English if-you-don't-have-the-word-steal-it school. Would have imported to sip, if he hadn't discovered the deprecated siroter... which is doubly funny because siroter isn't deprecated anymore, which only goes to show.