"My
room is situated on the forty-fifth degree of latitude {...] it
stretches from east to west; it forms a long rectangle, thirty-six paces in circumference if you hug the
wall. My
journey will, however, measure much more than this, as I will be crossing it frequently lengthwise, or else diagonally, without any
rule or
method. I will even follow a
zigzag math, and I will
trace out every
possible trajectory if need be [...] There's no more
attractive pleasure than following one's
ideas wherever they lead, as the
hunter pursues his game, without even trying to keep to any set
route. And so, when I
travel through my room, I rarely follow a straight
line: I go from my
table towards a picture hanging in a corner; from there I set out obliquely toward the
door; but even though, when I begin, it
really is my intention to go there, if I
happen to meet my armchair en route, I don't
think twice about it, and settle down in it without
further ado."
Xavier de Maistre,
A Journey Around My Room, 1790
