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
A man must become wise at his own expense.
A wise man never loses anything, if he has himself.
To compose our character is our duty, not to compose books, and to win, not battles and provinces, but order and tranquility in our conduct. Our great and glorious masterpiece is to live appropriately. All other things, ruling, hoarding, building, are only little appendages and props, at most.
He who does not live in some degree for others, hardly lives for himself.
I care not so much what I am to others as what I am to myself. I will be rich by myself, and not by borrowing.
The most evident token and apparent sign of true wisdom is a constant and unconstrained rejoicing.
There are some defeats more triumphant than victories.
Our great and glorious masterpiece is to live appropriately.
It is in vain that we get upon stilts, for once on them, it is still with our legs that we must walk. And on the highest throne in the world we are still sitting on our own ass.
Once conform, once do what others do because they do it, and a kind of lethargy steals over all the finer senses of the soul.
I know that the arms of friendship are long enough to reach from the one end of the world to the other
When I am attached by gloomy thoughts, nothing helps me so much as running to my books. They quickly absorb me and banish the clouds from my mind.
If you don't know how to die, don't worry; Nature will tell you what to do on the spot, fully and adequately. She will do this job perfectly for you; don't bother your head about it.
Our wisdom and deliberation for the most part follow the lead of chance.