Famous Michel De Montaigne Quotations

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"I quote others only in order the better to express myself."
by Michel de Montaigne
"He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak."
by Michel de Montaigne
"A wise man sees as much as he ought, not as much as he can."
by Michel de Montaigne
"The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness."
by Michel de Montaigne
"The strangest, most generous, and proudest of all virtues is true courage."
by Michel de Montaigne
"The soul which has no fixed purpose in life is lost; to be everywhere, is to be nowhere."
by Michel de Montaigne
"The way of the world is to make laws, but follow custom."
by Michel de Montaigne
"There is little less trouble in governing a private family than a whole kingdom."
by Michel de Montaigne
"There is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state."
by Michel de Montaigne
"There is no pleasure to me without communication: there is not so much as a sprightly thought comes into my mind that it does not grieve me to have produced alone, and that I have no one to tell it to."
by Michel de Montaigne
"We can be knowledgeable with other men's knowledge, but we cannot be wise with other men's wisdom."
by Michel de Montaigne
"Few men have been admired of their familiars."
by Michel de Montaigne
"Even from their infancy we frame them to the sports of love: their instruction, behavior, attire, grace, learning and all their words azimuth only at love, respects only affection. Their nurses and their keepers imprint no other thing in them."
by Michel de Montaigne
"He who is not very strong in memory should not meddle with lying."
by Michel de Montaigne
"If a man urge me to tell wherefore I loved him, I feel it cannot be expressed but by answering: Because it was he, because it was myself."
by Michel de Montaigne
"If you don't know how to die, don't worry; Nature will tell you what to do on the spot, fully and adequately. She will do this job perfectly for you; don't bother your head about it."
by Michel de Montaigne
"Make your educational laws strict and your criminal ones can be gentle; but if you leave youth its liberty you will have to dig dungeons for ages."
by Michel de Montaigne
"Let us not be ashamed to speak what we shame not to think."
by Michel de Montaigne
"Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know."
by Michel de Montaigne
"In the education of children there is nothing like alluring the interest and affection, otherwise you only make so many asses laden with books."
by Michel de Montaigne
"It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others."
by Michel de Montaigne
"For truly it is to be noted, that children's plays are not sports, and should be deemed as their most serious actions."
by Michel de Montaigne
"Death, they say, acquits us of all obligations."
by Michel de Montaigne
"An unattempted lady could not vaunt of her chastity."
by Michel de Montaigne
"Every man bears the whole stamp of the human condition."
by Michel de Montaigne
"Not being able to govern events, I govern myself."
by Michel de Montaigne
"Once conform, once do what others do because they do it, and a kind of lethargy steals over all the finer senses of the soul."
by Michel de Montaigne
"If a man should importune me to give a reason why I loved him, I find it could no otherwise be expressed, than by making answer because it was he, because it was I."
by Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
"I speak the truth not so much as I would, but as much as I dare, and I dare a little more as I grow older."
by Michel de Montaigne
"The worst of my actions or conditions seem not so ugly unto me as I find it both ugly and base not to dare to avouch for them."
by Michel de Montaigne
"The world is but a perpetual see-saw."
by Michel de Montaigne
"Every one rushes elsewhere and into the future, because no one wants to face one's own inner self."
by Michel de Montaigne
"It is a monstrous thing that I will say, but I will say it all the same: I find in many things more restraint and order in my morals than in my opinions, and my lust less depraved than my reason."
by Michel de Montaigne
"Let us permit nature to have her way. She understands her business better than we do."
by Michel de Montaigne
"How many condemnations I have witnessed more criminal than the crime!"
by Michel de Montaigne
"We can be knowledgable with other men's knowledge but we cannot be wise with other men's wisdom."
by Michel de Montaigne
"We are Christians by the same title as we are natives of Perigord or Germany."
by Michel de Montaigne
"The most unhappy and frail creatures are men and yet they are the proudest."
by Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
"It is much more easy to accuse the one sex than to excuse the other."
by Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
"Fashion is the science of appearances, and it inspires one with the desire to seem rather than to be."
by Michel de Montaigne
"All the fame you should look for in life is to have lived it quietly."
by Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
"We need very strong ears to hear ourselves judged frankly, and because there are few who can endure frank criticism without being stung by it, those who venture to criticize us perform a remarkable act of friendship, for to undertake to wound or offend a man for his own good is to have a healthy love for him."
by Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
"Lying is a terrible vice, it testifies that one despises God, but fears men."
by Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
"My reason is not framed to bend or stoop: my knees are."
by Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
"Philosophy is doubt."
by Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
"'Tis the sharpness of our mind that gives the edge to our pains and pleasures."
by Michel de Montaigne
"A good marriage would be between a blind wife and a deaf husband."
by Michel de Montaigne
"A learned person is not learned in everything; but the capable person is capable in everything, even in what he is ignorant of"
by Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
"A man of understanding has lost nothing, if he has himself."
by Michel de Montaigne
"A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears."
by Michel de Montaigne
"A straight oar looks bent in the water. What matters is not merely that we see things but how we see them."
by Michel de Montaigne
"A wise man never loses anything, if he has himself."
by Michel de Montaigne
"An untempted woman cannot boast of her chastity."
by Michel de Montaigne
"Any person of honor chooses rather to lose his honor than to lose his conscience."
by Michel de Montaigne
"Anyone who does not feel sufficiently strong in memory should not meddle with lying."
by Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
"Children's playthings are not sports and should be deemed as their most serious actions."
by Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
"Confidence in the goodness of another is good proof of one's own goodness."
by Michel de Montaigne
"Confidence in others' honesty is no light testimony of one's own integrity."
by Michel de Montaigne
"Covetousness is both the beginning and the end of the devil's alphabet - the first vice in corrupt nature that moves, and the last which dies."
by Michel de Montaigne
"Don't discuss yourself, for you are bound to lose if you belittle yourself, you are believed if you praise yourself, you are disbelieved."
by Michel de Montaigne
"Even on the most exalted throne in the world we are only sitting on our own bottom."
by Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
"Even on the highest throne in the world, we are still sitting on our ass."
by Michel de Montaigne
"Fame and tranquility can never be bedfellows."
by Michel de Montaigne
"Fortune, seeing that she could not make fools wise, has made them lucky."
by Michel de Montaigne
"Friendship is the highest degree of perfection in society."
by Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
"God gives us our relatives- thank God we can choose our friends."
by Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
"He who has not a good memory should never take upon himself the trade of lying."
by Michel de Montaigne
"He who fears he will suffer, already suffers because of his fear."
by Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
"He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears."
by Michel de Montaigne
"He who establishes his argument by noise and command, shows that his reason is weak."
by Michel de Montaigne
"He who would teach men to die would at the same time teach them to live."
by Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
"How many things which served us yesterday as articles of faith, are fables for us today."
by Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
"How many things we held yesterday as articles of faith which today we tell as fables."
by Michel de Montaigne
"I believe it to be true that dreams are the true interpreters of our inclinations; but there is art required to sort and understand them."
by Michel de Montaigne
"I care not so much what I am to others as what I am to myself. I will be rich by myself, and not by borrowing."
by Michel de Montaigne
"I care not so much what I am to others as what I am to myself."
by Michel de Montaigne
"I do myself a greater injury in lying than I do him of whom I tell a lie."
by Michel de Montaigne
"I do not speak the minds of others except to speak my own mind better."
by Michel de Montaigne
"I have often seen people uncivil by too much civility, and tiresome in their courtesy."
by Michel de Montaigne
"I have never seen a greater monster or miracle in the world than myself."
by Michel de Montaigne
"I know well what I am fleeing from but not what I am in search of."
by Michel de Montaigne
"I put forward formless and unresolved notions, as do those who publish doubtful questions to debate in the schools, not to establish the truth but to seek it."
by Michel de Montaigne
"I prefer the company of peasants because they have not been educated sufficiently to reason incorrectly."
by Michel de Montaigne
"I set forth a humble and inglorious life; that does not matter. You can tie up all moral philosophy with a common and private life just as well as with a life of richer stuff. Each man bears the entire form of man's estate."
by Michel de Montaigne
"I study myself more than any other subject. That is my metaphysics, that is my physics."
by Michel de Montaigne
"I will follow the right side even to the fire, but excluding the fire if I can."
by Michel de Montaigne
"I write to keep from going mad from the contradictions I find among mankind - and to work some of those contradictions out for myself."
by Michel de Montaigne
"If a man should importune me to give a reason why I loved him, I find it could no otherwise be expressed, than by making answer: because it was he, because it was I."
by Michel de Montaigne
"If ordinary people complain that I speak too much of myself, I complain that they do not even think of themselves."
by Michel de Montaigne
"Ignorance is the softest pillow on which a man can rest his head."
by Michel de Montaigne
"In nine lifetimes, you'll never know as much about your cat as your cat knows about you."
by Michel de Montaigne
"In true education, anything that comes to our hand is as good as a book: the prank of a page- boy, the blunder of a servant, a bit of table talk - they are all part of the curriculum."
by Michel de Montaigne
"It is a sign of contraction of the mind when it is content, or of weariness. A spirited mind never stops within itself; it is always aspiring and going beyond its strength."
by Michel de Montaigne
"It is a sign of contraction of the mind when it is content, or of weariness."
by Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
"It is an absolute and virtually divine perfection to know how to enjoy our being rightfully."
by Michel de Montaigne
"It is easier to write an indifferent poem than to understand a good one."
by Michel de Montaigne
"It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others"
by Michel de Montaigne
"It is not death, it is dying that alarms me."
by Michel de Montaigne
"It should be noted that children at play are not playing about; their games should be seen as their most serious-minded activity."
by Michel de Montaigne
"Lend yourself to others, but give yourself to yourself."
by Michel de Montaigne


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