Moreover, it is not the jungle that makes the tiger, but the tiger who chooses to go into the jungle. It also lives in the mountains, in the coldest weather.
All peoples seem to choose a certain type of country to settle in, though they may prosper in several.
The Portuguese in the plains (Portugal, Brazil), the Spanish on high plateaus (Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Venezuela, etc.). The Arab is more like himself in the desert (Arabia, Egypt, etc.). It so happens that the cactus (on the plateaus and pampas of South America) is the tightest, the most unapproachable plant, just like the Indian of the same countries.
Most of the trees in Italy are taller than those in France. As soon as one reaches Turin the difference is striking. The leaves of the chestnut trees are heavier in Brussels, lighter in Paris — and as a rule, all the vegetation in the Paris region and Brussels shows a slight tendency of the same kind. Does that simply imply that the Belgian prefers to see good stout chestnut leaves to more delicate ones? and that he chose to live in Belgium for that reason?
Does it mean that it is the sight of the heavier vegetation that has rendered his mind… a little less nimble and a little more fleshy?
Does it follow that drinking the water from the same soil as the plants, surrounded by the same humidity, the same wind, the same tone, and in short, eating qualities of the products of the same soil, he has grown somewhat like them also?
No, one cannot say this, it is much more complicated.
- Henri Michaeux, A Barbarian in Asia
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