All human evil comes from a single cause, man's inability to sit still in a room.

We know then the existence and nature of the finite, because we also are finite and have extension. We know the existence of the infinite and are ignorant of its nature, because it has extension like us, but not limits like us. But we know neither the existence nor the nature of God, because he has neither extension nor limits.

Curiosity is nothing more than vanity. More often than not we only seek knowledge to show it off.

All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.

Those great efforts of intellect, upon which the mind sometimes touches, are such that it cannot maintain itself there. It only leaps to them, not as upon a throne, forever, but merely for an instant.

Nature, which alone is good, is wholly familiar and common.

Montaigne is wrong in declaring that custom ought to be followed simply because it is custom, and not because it is reasonable or just.