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
We are born to inquire into truth; it belongs to a greater to possess it
It is an absolute perfection... to get the very most out of one's individuality.
It is equally pointless to weep because we won't be alive a hundred years from now as that we were not here a hundred years ago.
I find that the best virtue I have has in it some tincture of vice.
To philosophize is to doubt.
A man should keep for himself a little back shop, all his own, quite unadulterated, in which he establishes his true freedom and chief place of seclusion and solitude.
Nature has made us a present of a broad capacity for entertaining ourselves apart, and often calls us to do so, to teach us that we owe ourselves in part to society, but in the best part to ourselves.
Whenever a new discovery is reported to the world, they say first, It is probably not true, Then after, when the truth of the new proposition has been demonstrated beyond question, they say, Yes, it may be true, but it is not important. Finally, when sufficient time has elapsed to fully evidence its importance, they say, Yes, surely it is important, but it is no longer new.
Diogenes was asked what wine he liked best; and he answered as I would have done when he said, "Somebody else's".
This notion [skepticism] is more clearly understood by asking "What do I know?"
In love, 'tis no other than frantic desire for that which flies from us.
Long life, and short, are by death made all one; for there is no long, nor short, to things that are no more.
We easily enough confess in others an advantage of courage, strength, experience, activity, and beauty; but an advantage in judgment we yield to none.
The judgment is an utensil proper for all subjects, and will have an oar in everything.