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
There are few things on which we can pass a sincere judgement, because there are few things in which we have not, in one way or another, a particular interest.
I say that male and female are cast in the same mold; except for education and habits, the difference is not great.
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.
The oldest and best known evil was ever more supportable than one that was new and untried.
I would rather be old for a shorter time than be old before my time.
Live as long as you please, you will strike nothing off the time you will have to spend dead.
A wise man sees as much as he ought, not as much as he can.
Wisdom has its excesses, and has no less need of moderation than folly.
Health is a precious thing, and the only one, in truth, meriting that a man should lay out not only his time, sweat, labor and goods, but also life itself to obtain it.
Were I to live my life over again, I should live it just as I have done. I neither complain of the past, nor do I fear the future.
He loves little who loves by rule.
Those things that are dearest to us have cost us the most.
Oh these foolish men! They could not create so much as a worm, but they create gods by the dozens.
We are more unhappy to see people ahead of us than happy to see people behind us.