Michel de Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne
Michel Eyquem de Montaignewas one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance, known for popularizing the essay as a literary genre. His work is noted for its merging of casual anecdotes and autobiography with serious intellectual insight; his massive volume Essaiscontains some of the most influential essays ever written. Montaigne had a direct influence on writers all over the world, including Francis Bacon, René Descartes, Blaise Pascal, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Albert Hirschman, William Hazlitt, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Friedrich Nietzsche,...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth28 February 1533
CountryFrance
Kings and philosophers defecate, and so do ladies.
No man is exempt from saying silly things; the mischief is to say them deliberately.
When I dance, I dance; when I sleep, I sleep; yes, and when I walk alone in a beautiful orchard, if my thoughts drift to far-off matters for some part of the time for some other part I lead them back again to the walk, the orchard, to the sweetness of this solitude, to myself.
Don't discuss yourself, for you are bound to lose; if you belittle yourself, you are believed; if you praise yourself, you are disbelieved.
If I speak of myself in different ways, that is because I look at myself in different ways.
I am afraid that our eyes are bigger than our stomachs, and that we have more curiosity than understanding. We grasp at everything, but catch nothing except wind.
Rejoice in the things that are present; all else is beyond thee.
My life has been full of terrible misfortunes most of which never happened.
A straight oar looks bent in the water. What matters is not merely that we see things but how we see them.
Those who have compared our life to a dream were right... we were sleeping wake, and waking sleep.
Let us permit nature to have her way. She understands her business better than we do.
There is nothing so extreme that is not allowed by the custom of some nation or other.
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.
Truly it is reasonable to make a great distinction between the faults that come from our weakness and those that come from our wickedness.