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Michel de Montaigne Quotes
1533–1592 France
Michel de Montaigne (Michel Eyquem, lord of the manor of Montaigne, Dordogne) (28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592) was an influential French Renaissance writer, generally considered to be the inventor of the personal essay.
France Essayists Mayors Philosophers Also known as: Michel E. de Montaigne, Michel Eyquem, seigneur de Montaigne, Michel Montaigne, Montaigne, Montaigne, Michel de
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278 quotes
How many we know who have fled the sweetness of a tranquil life in their homes, among their friends, to seek the horror of uninhabitable deserts; who have flung themselves into humiliation, degradation, and the contempt of the world, and have enjoyed these and even sought them out.
Essais (1571)
Why may not a goose say thus: "All the parts of the universe I have an interest in: the earth serves me to walk upon, the sun to light me; the stars have their influence upon me; I have such an advantage by the winds and such by the waters; there is nothing that yon heavenly roof looks upon so favourably as me. I am the darling of Nature! Is it not man that keeps and serves me?"
Essais (1571)
Of the unreasoning humours of mankind it seems that (fame) is the one of which the philosophers themselves have disengaged themselves from last and with the most reluctance: it is the most intractable and obstinate; for [as St. Augustine says] it persists in tempting even minds nobly inclined."
He who remembers the evils he has undergone, and those that have threatened him, and the slight causes that have changed him from one state to another, prepares himself in that way for future changes and for recognizing his condition. The life of Caesar has no more to show us than our own; an emperor's or an ordinary man's, it is still a life subject to all human accidents.
Essais (1571)
There must then be something that is better, and that must be God. When you see a stately and stupendous edifice, though you do not know who is the owner of it, you would yet conclude it was not built for rats. And this divine structure, that we behold of the celestial palace, have we not reason to believe that it is the residence of some possessor, who is much greater than we?
Essais (1571)
At the very beginning of my fevers and sicknesses that cast me down, whilst still entire, and but little, disordered in health, I reconcile myself to Almighty God by the last Christian, offices, and find myself by so doing less oppressed and more easy, and have got, methinks, so much the better of my disease. And I have yet less need of a notary or counsellor than of a physician.
Essais (1571)
Of all human and ancient opinions concerning religion, that seems to me the most likely and most excusable, that acknowledged God as an incomprehensible power, the original and preserver of all things, all goodness, all perfection, receiving and taking in good part the honour and reverence that man paid him, under what method, name, or ceremonies soever
Essais (1571)
Fame and tranquility can never be bedfellows.
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The most manifest sign of wisdom is a continual cheerfulness; her state is like that in the regions above the moon, always clear and serene.
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It should be noted that children at play are not playing about; their games should be seen as their most serious-minded activity.
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Confidence in another man's virtue is no light evidence of a man's own, and God willingly favors such a confidence.
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Hath God obliged himself not to exceed the bounds of our knowledge?
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A good marriage would be between a blind wife and a deaf husband.
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Age imprints more wrinkles in the mind than it does on the face.
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Ambition is not a vice of little people.
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Death, they say, acquits us of all obligations.
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It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others.
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It is not death, it is dying that alarms me.
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No man is exempt from saying silly things; the mischief is to say them deliberately.
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Of all our infirmities, the most savage is to despise our being.
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