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Michel de Montaigne

155 quotes

“Je veux qu'on me voit en ma façon simple, naturelle, et ordinaire, sans étude et artifice; car c'est moi que je peins...Je suis moi-même la matière de mon livre.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To the Reader (tr. Donald M. Frame, 1957)
“Certes, c'est un subject merveilleusement vain, divers, et ondoyant, que l'homme. Il est malaisé d'y fonder jugement constant et uniforme.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Man in sooth is a marvellous, vain, fickle, and unstable subject. (tr. Cotton, rev. W. Hazlitt, 1842)
“All passions that suffer themselves to be relished and digested are but moderate.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 2. Of Sorrow (tr. Cotton, rev. W. Hazlitt, 1842)
Also quoted by: Michael De Montaigne
“A strong memory is commonly coupled with infirm judgment.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 9. Of Liars (tr. Cotton, rev. W. Carew Hazlitt, 1877)
“It is not without good reason said, that he who has not a good memory should never take upon him the trade of lying.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 9. Of Liars (tr. Cotton, rev. W. Hazlitt, 1842)
Also quoted by: Michael De Montaigne
“I live from day to day, and content myself with having enough to meet my present and ordinary needs; for the extraordinary, all the provision in the world could not suffice.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every rich man is avaricious, in my opinion.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How many we know who have fled the sweetness of a tranquil life in their homes, among their friends, to seek the horror of uninhabitable deserts; who have flung themselves into humiliation, degradation, and the contempt of the world, and have enjoyed these and even sought them out.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Things are not so painful and difficult of themselves, but our weakness or cowardice makes them so.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 14 (tr. Cotton, rev. W. Carew Hazlitt, 1877)
“We are, I know not how, double in ourselves, which is the cause that what we believe we do not believe, and cannot disengage ourselves from what we condemn.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 16. Of Glory (tr. Cotton, rev. W. Carew Hazlitt, 1877)
“C'est ce de quoi j'ai le plus de peur que la peur.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He who should teach men to die would at the same time teach them to live.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 18. That Men are not to judge of our Happiness till after Death (tr. Cotton, rev. W. Hazlitt, 1842)
Also quoted by: Michael De Montaigne
“Whatever can be done another day can be done today.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Je veux que la mort me trouve plantant mes choux.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All the opinions of the world agree in this, that pleasure is our end.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 20. Of the Force of Imagination (tr. Cotton, rev. W. Carew Hazlitt, 1877)
“He who would teach men to die would teach them to live.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The day of your birth is one day’s advance towards the grave.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 20. Of the Force of Imagination (tr. Cotton, rev. W. Carew Hazlitt, 1877)
“Live as long as you please, you will strike nothing off the time you will have to spend dead.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wherever your life ends, it is all there. The utility of living consists not in the length of days, but in the use of time; a man may have lived long, and yet lived but a little. Make use of time while it is present with you. It depends upon your will, and not upon the number of days, to have a sufficient length of life. Is it possible you can imagine never to arrive at the place towards which you are continually going? and yet there is no journey but hath its end. And, if company will make it more pleasant or more easy to you, does not all the world go the self-same way?”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All of the days go toward death and the last one arrives there.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The laws of conscience, which we pretend to be derived from nature, proceed from custom.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 22. Of Custom (tr. Cotton, rev. W. Hazlitt, 1842)
Also quoted by: Michael De Montaigne
“We must not attach knowledge to the mind, we have to incorporate it there.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every other knowledge is harmful to him who does not have knowledge of goodness.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To call out for the hand of the enemy is a rather extreme measure, yet a better one, I think, than to remain in continual fever over an accident that has no remedy. But since all the precautions that a man can take are full of uneasiness and uncertainty, it is better to prepare with fine assurance for the worst that can happen, and derive some consolation from the fact that we are not sure that it will happen.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Un peu de chaque chose, et rien du tout, a la française.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Je ne dis les autres, sinon pour d'autant plus me dire.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Accustom him to every thing, that he may not be a Sir Paris, a carpet-knight, but a sinewy, hardy, and vigorous young man.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 26. Of the Education of Children (tr. Cotton, rev. W. Hazlitt, 1842)
“Combien de choses nous servoyent hier d’articles de foy, qui nous sont fables aujourd’huy?”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We were halves throughout, and to that degree that, methinks, by outliving him I defraud him of his part.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 27. Of Friendship (tr. Cotton, rev. W. Hazlitt, 1842)
Also quoted by: Michael De Montaigne
“Si on me presse de dire pourquoi je l'aimais, je sens que cela ne se peut exprimer qu'en répondant: parce que c'était lui; parce que c'était moi.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are some defeats more triumphant than victories.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 30. Of Cannibals (tr. Cotton, rev. W. Hazlitt, 1842)
Also quoted by: Michael De Montaigne, Michel de Montaigne (attributed)
“... il n'est rien creu si fermement que ce qu'on sçait le moins, ...”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 31. Of Divine Ordinances (tr. Cotton, rev. W. Hazlitt, 1842)
“A wise man never loses anything, if he has himself.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 38. Of Solitude (tr. Cotton, rev. W. Hazlitt, 1842)
Also quoted by: Michael De Montaigne
“L'homme d'entendement n'a rien perdu, s'il a soi-même.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“La plus grande chose du monde, c'est de savoir être à soi.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Even opinion is of force enough to make itself to be espoused at the expense of life.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Book I, Ch. 40. Of Good and Evil (tr. Cotton, rev. W. Hazlitt, 1842)
Also quoted by: Michael De Montaigne
“He who does not give himself leisure to be thirsty cannot take pleasure in drinking.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Les rois et les philosophes fientent, et les dames aussi.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 42, English translation from Hartle, Ann (2003), Michel de Montaigne: Accidental Philosopher, Cambridge University Press.
“A true prayer and religious reconciling of ourselves to Almighty God cannot enter into an impure soul, subject at the very time to the dominion of Satan. He who calls God to his assistance whilst in a course of vice, does as if a cut-purse should call a magistrate to help him, or like those who introduce the name of God to the attestation of a lie.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 56 (tr. Cotton, rev. W. Carew Hazlitt, 1877)
“There is nothing so easy, so sweet, and so favourable, as the divine law: it calls and invites us to her, guilty and abominable as we are; extends her arms and receives us into her bosom, foul and polluted as we at present are, and are for the future to be. But then, in return, we are to look upon her with a respectful eye; we are to receive this pardon with all gratitude and submission, and for that instant at least, wherein we address ourselves to her, to have the soul sensible of the ills we have committed, and at enmity with those passions that seduced us to offend her.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 56 (tr. Cotton, rev. W. Carew Hazlitt, 1877)
“There is as much difference between us and ourselves as between us and others.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 1. Of the Inconstancy of Our Actions (tr. Cotton, rev. W. Carew Hazlitt, 1877)
“It is the part of cowardice, not of courage, to go and crouch in a hole under a massive tomb, to avoid the blows of fortune.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 3. A Usage of the Island of Cea (tr. George B. Ives, 1925)
“C'est une épineuse entreprise, et plus qu'il ne semble, de suivre une allure si vagabonde que celle de nôtre esprit; de pénétrer les profondeurs opaques de ses replis internes; de choisir et arrêter tant de menus de ses agitations.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 6. Of Preparation (tr. E. J. Trechmann, 1927)
“Mon métier et mon art, c'est vivre.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Virtue refuses facility for her companion ... the easy, gentle, and sloping path that guides the footsteps of a good natural disposition is not the path of true virtue. It demands a rough and thorny road.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For my own part, I cannot without grief see so much as an innocent beast pursued and killed that has no defence, and from which we have received no offence at all.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 11 (tr. Cotton, 1685)
“Que sais-je?”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 12. Apology for Raimond de Sebonde (tr. Cotton, 1685)
“Quand je me joue à ma chatte, qui sait si elle passe son temps de moi, plus que je ne fais d'elle.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The 1595 edition adds: We entertain each other with reciprocal monkey tricks. If I have my time to begin or to refuse, so has she hers. (tr. David Wills, 2008)
“All that is under heaven, says the sage, runs one law and one fortune.”
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) said by 1592 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 12 (tr. Cotton, rev. W. Carew Hazlitt, 1877)