One might usefully add to Baron de Montesquieu’s aphorism noted above,

“Stillest perseverance were our blessedness; not dislocation and alteration – could they be avoided.”

Excerpt From
History of the French Revolution (1837)
Thomas Carlyle

Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu; 18 January 1689 – 10 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher.

He is the principal source of the theory of separation of powers, which is implemented in many constitutions throughout the world. He is also known for doing more than any other author to secure the place of the word despotism in the political lexicon. His anonymously published The Spirit of Law (1748), which was received well in both Great Britain and the American colonies, influenced the Founding Fathers of the United States in drafting the U.S. Constitution.

The sayings apply indisputably to our indolent resort on Key Largo. I was today overtaken by lethargy of a blundering degree. Perhaps it was the soporific effect of four Benadryl antihistamine pills I took last evening and early morning to quell the itchiness from several bug bites. The affliction is, I have discovered over time, not uncommon in these subtropical climes; hence, I had the product available in a small plastic bottle purchased last year on Hilton Head Island. Or, today’s unique immobility may have been the lingering result of application of the Theragun Mini™ to my limbs last evening. I was in any event not especially concerned late this morning about intrusion upon my “tiresome annals” or “stillest perseverance”.  When I finally arose from bed my languid behaviour did however trespass upon my customary matutinal tradition though not as I say to the point of “dislocation and alteration”. The interruption was strictly temporal. With the discharge of moderate immediacy I nonetheless completed my ritual breakfast in full form and set upon my tricycle as is my wont to complete a 4 Km tour about the property before succumbing to my usual berth by the pool in the face of the mid-afternoon sun. We are today mid-December. The sun has progressively shown its more rapid daily descent to the Winter Solstice on December 21st. The celestial colours at the pool today were softened by the impending hemispheric declination.

Each morning when I awaken I ask myself by what prescription if any must I disturb this banausic existence? Yet the regime of decades past predicts against a tiresome application. I am forever trapped by the evolution of time and its  connection with the “early bird” and the Protestant Work Ethic. Competing with this wishful and prosaic contemplation is the admission that at my advanced age one should of necessity acknowledge the entitlement to lassitude. I have however learned that the adoption of enervation requires a degree of unaccustomed righteousness and resolve. We creatures are shackled to our yokes of years past.

By 4:00 pm this afternoon I had succeeded to recover my “stillest perseverance”, changing from my bathing suit and linen shirt to what I jokingly call “mes comfortables” which is to say, synthetic shorts, T-shirt and pullover. Then follows my preparation in the kitchen of a mixture of iced tea and freshly squeezed lemon juice. This latter absorption is interrupted an hour later by making another cup of iced tea and lemon juice, followed immediately by the preparation of my evening salad consisting most commonly of seasonal leaves, Cole slaw, sliced green pepper and small tomatoes polished with olive oil, red wine vinegar and Maldon salt. Then it’s back to reading and writing (commonly enlarging upon what was begun earlier mid-morning). This I believe qualifies as “tiresome annals”.

Order and simplification are the first steps toward the mastery of a subject.

Thomas Mann (6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955)