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
Pride dwells in the thought; the tongue can have but a very little share in it.
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.
Let us a little permit nature to take her own way; she better understands her own affairs than we.
I go out of my way, but rather by license than carelessness.... It is the inattentive reader who loses my subject, not I. Some word about it will always be found off in a corner, which will not fail to be sufficient, though it takes little room.
A little folly is desirable in him that will not be guilty of stupidity.
Glory consists of two parts: the one in setting too great a value upon ourselves, and the other in setting too little a value upon others.
A little of everything and nothing thoroughly, after the French fashion.
There is little less trouble in governing a private family than a whole kingdom.
He loves little who loves by rule.
In my youth I studied for ostentation; later, a little to gain wisdom; now, for recreation; never for gain.
It is for little souls, that truckle under the weight of affairs, not to know how clearly to disengage themselves, and not to know how to lay them aside and take them up again.
It is easier to sacrifice great than little things.
There is no desire more natural than the desire for knowledge.
We can be knowledgable with other men's knowledge but we cannot be wise with other men's wisdom.