Michel de Montaigne Quotes

To divert myself from a troublesome fancy, it is but to run to my books; they presently fix me to them, and drive the other out of my thoughts, and do not mutiny to see that I have only recourse to them for want of other more, real, natural, and lively conveniences; they always receive me with the same kindness.

The least strained and most natural ways of the soul are the most beautiful; the best occupations are the least forced.

If virtue cannot shine bright, but by the conflict of contrary appetites, shall we then say that she cannot subsist without the assistance of vice, and that it is from her that she derives her reputation and honor?

We every day and every hour say things of another that we might more properly say of ourselves, could we but apply our observations to our own concerns.

Shame on all eloquence which leaves us with a taste for itself and not for its substance.

I consider it equal injustice to set our heart against natural pleasures and to set our heart too much on them. We should neither pursue them, nor flee them; we should accept them.

The worst condition of humans is when they lose knowledge and control of themselves.

Hath God obliged himself not to exceed the bounds of our knowledge?

Meditation is a powerful and full study as can effectually taste and employ themselves.

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.

We need to interpret interpretations more than to interpret things.

What enriches language is its being handled and exploited by beautiful minds-not so much by making innovations as by expanding it through more vigorous and varied applications, by extending it and deploying it. It is not words that they contribute: what they do is enrich their words, deepen their meanings and tie down their usage; they teach it unaccustomed rhythms, prudently though and with ingenuity.

And I loathe people who find it harder to put up with a gown askew than with a soul askew and who judge a man by his bow, his bearing and his boots.

It is in the enjoyment and not in mere possession that makes for happiness.

Our thoughts are always elsewhere; we are stayed and supported by the hope for a better life, or by the hope that our children will turn out well, or that our name will be famous in the future, or that we shall escape the evils of this life, or that vengeance threatens those who are the cause of our death.

We ought to love temperance for itself, and in obedience to God who has commanded it and chastity; but what I am forced to by catarrhs, or owe to the stone, is neither chastity nor temperance.

The worthiest man to be known, and for a pattern to be presented to the world, he is the man of whom we have most certain knowledge. He hath been declared and enlightened by the most clear-seeing men that ever were; the testimonies we have of him are in faithfulness and sufficiency most admirable.

If I can, I shall keep my death from saying anything that my life has not already said.

There is no knowledge so hard to acquire as the knowledge of how to live this life well and naturally.

Love is like playing the piano. First you must learn to play by the rules, then you must forget the rules and play from your heart. If I were pressed to say why I loved him, I feel that my only reply could be: Because it was he, because it was I.

Those things that are dearest to us have cost us the most.

It is for little souls, that truckle under the weight of affairs, not to know how clearly to disengage themselves, and not to know how to lay them aside and take them up again.

The great and glorious masterpiece of humanity is to know how to live with a purpose.

We have power over nothing except our will.

Why dost thou complain of this world? It detains thee not; thy own cowardice is the cause, if thou livest in pain.

It takes so much to be a king that he exists only as such. That extraneous glare that surrounds him hides him and conceals him from us; our sight breaks and is dissipated by it being filled and arrested by this strong light.

There never were, in the world, two opinions alike, no more than two hairs, or two grains; the most universal quality is diversity.

He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak.

The first lessons with which we should irrigate his mind should be those which teach him to know himself, and to know how to die ... and to live.

Since I would rather make of him an able man than a learned man, I would also urge that care be taken to choose a guide with a well-made rather than a well-filled head.

Glory and repose are things that cannot possibly inhabit in one and the same place.

I don't break the law* made for crooks, when I take away my own property - thus I am not obliged to conform to the law made for murderers when I deprive myself of my own life.

We perceive no charms that are not sharpened, puffed out, and inflated by artifice. Those which glide along naturally and simply easily escape a sight so gross as ours.

'Tis the sharpness of our mind that gives the edge to our pains and pleasures.

A wise man loses nothing, if he but save himself.

In order always to learn something from others (which is the finest school there can be), I observe in my travels this practice: I always steer those with whom I talk back to the things they know best.

Let every foot have its own shoe.

We are more solicitous that men speak of us, than how they speak.

Nothing is so firmly believed as what we least know.

In truth, the care and expense of our fathers aims only at furnishing our heads with knowledge; of judgement and virtue, little news.

Petty vexations may at times be petty, but still they are vexations. The smallest and most inconsiderable annoyances are the most piercing. As small letters weary the eye most, so the smallest affairs disturb us most.

If not for that of conscience, yet at least for ambition's sake, let us reject ambition, let us disdain that thirst of honor and renown, so low and mendicant; that it makes us beg it of all sorts of people.

Ambition is, of all other, the most contrary humor to solitude; and glory and repose are so inconsistent that they cannot possibly inhabit one and the same place; and for so much as I understand, those have only their arms and legs disengaged from the crowd, their mind and intention remain engaged behind more than ever.

Truly it is reasonable to make a great distinction between the faults that come from our weakness and those that come from our wickedness.

Travelling through the world produces a marvellous clarity in the judgment of men. We are all of us confined and enclosed within ourselves, and see no farther than the end of our nose.

There is no man so good, who, were he to submit all his thoughts and actions to the laws, would not deserve hanging ten times in his life.

No wind favors he who has no destined port.

The curiosity of knowing things has been given to man for a scourge.