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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.

— Michel de Montaigne Essais (1571)

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More quotes by Michel de Montaigne

They make me hate things that are likely, when they would impose them upon me as infallible.

Essais (1571)

I do not speak the minds of others except to speak my own mind better.

Essais (1571)

What of a truth that is bounded by these mountains and is falsehood to the world that lives beyond?

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God's justice and His power are inseparable; 'tis in vain we invoke His power in an unjust cause.

Essais (1571)

Man is certainly stark mad; he cannot make a worm, and yet he will be making gods by dozens.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Michel de Montaigne (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.