"My room is situated under the forty-fifth degree of latitude, according to the measures of Father Beccaria; its direction is from the east to the west; it forms a long square, which has thirty-six paces of turn, by shaving the wall very near. My journey, however, will contain more; for I shall often traverse it diagonally, diagonally, without following any rule or method. "I will even make zig zags, and I will go through all the possible lines in geometry if the need so requires." 

"My soul is so open to all sorts of ideas, tastes, and feelings; she receives so eagerly all that presents itself. "

"When I travel to my room, I rarely travel a straight line: I go from my table to a table which is placed in a corner; thence I go obliquely to go to the door; but, although it is my intention to go there, if I meet my chair on the way, I do not do it in a way, and I arrange it right away." Xavier de Maistre 1763 - 1852