"It was the opinion of Voltaire that an author, while life lasted, should continue to correct his words. This view seems to have been shared by Rousseau and Hume. 'He [Hume] more than once quotes 'a saying of Rousseau's, that one half of a man's life is too little to write a book and the other half to correct it.' In truth, he never wearied of the attempt to bring his words as near to perfection as possible, and it was from his death-bed that his last corrections were sent.'"5