All we do is to look after the opinions and learning of others: we ought to make them our own.

I prefer the company of peasants because they have not been educated sufficiently to reason incorrectly.

Oh, a friend! How true is that old saying, that the enjoyment of one is sweeter and more necessary than that of the elements of water and fire!

A wise man sees as much as he ought, not as much as he can.

I consider myself an average man, except in the fact that I consider myself an average man.

And truly Philosophy is but sophisticated poetry. Whence do those ancient writers derive all their authority but from the poets?

Authors communicate with the people by some special extrinsic mark; I am the first to do so by my entire being, as Michel de Montaigne.