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Michel de Montaigne's Quotes

Michel de Montaigne profile photo

Born: 1970-01-01
Profession: Philosopher
Nation: French
Biography of Michel de Montaigne

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He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears.

Tags: Fears, Shall, Suffer

I prefer the company of peasants because they have not been educated sufficiently to reason incorrectly.

Tags: Company, Education, Reason

Confidence in the goodness of another is good proof of one's own goodness.

Tags: Another, Confidence, Good

Rejoice in the things that are present; all else is beyond thee.

Tags: Beyond, Else, Present

There is no pleasure to me without communication: there is not so much as a sprightly thought comes into my mind that it does not grieve me to have produced alone, and that I have no one to tell it to.

Tags: Alone, Communication, Mind

When I play with my cat, who knows whether she is not amusing herself with me more than I with her.

Tags: Her, She, Whether

I write to keep from going mad from the contradictions I find among mankind - and to work some of those contradictions out for myself.

Tags: Keep, Mad, Work

Those who have compared our life to a dream were right... we were sleeping wake, and waking sleep.

Tags: Dreams, Life, Sleep

No wind serves him who addresses his voyage to no certain port.

Tags: Him, Voyage, Wind

Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of soul, impossible.

Tags: Impossible, Poverty, Soul

A straight oar looks bent in the water. What matters is not merely that we see things but how we see them.

Tags: Looks, Matters, Water

If ordinary people complain that I speak too much of myself, I complain that they do not even think of themselves.

Tags: Complain, Speak, Themselves

Love to his soul gave eyes; he knew things are not as they seem. The dream is his real life; the world around him is the dream.

Tags: Life, Love, Real

The soul which has no fixed purpose in life is lost; to be everywhere, is to be nowhere.

Tags: Life, Lost, Soul

One may be humble out of pride.

Tags: Humble, May, Pride

The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness.

Tags: Sign, Wisdom

There is no passion so contagious as that of fear.

Tags: Contagious, Fear, Passion

Every one rushes elsewhere and into the future, because no one wants to face one's own inner self.

Tags: Face, Future, Self

It is not death, it is dying that alarms me.

Tags: Death, Dying

'Tis the sharpness of our mind that gives the edge to our pains and pleasures.

Tags: Edge, Mind, Pains

A wise man sees as much as he ought, not as much as he can.

Tags: Ought, Sees, Wise

No pleasure has any savor for me without communication.

Tags: Communication, Pleasure, Savor

Age imprints more wrinkles in the mind than it does on the face.

Tags: Age, Face, Mind

Ambition is not a vice of little people.

Tags: Ambition, Vice

Fame and tranquility can never be bedfellows.

Tags: Bedfellows, Fame

For truly it is to be noted, that children's plays are not sports, and should be deemed as their most serious actions.

Tags: Children, Serious, Sports
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I know well what I am fleeing from but not what I am in search of.

Tags: Fleeing, Search

Ignorance is the softest pillow on which a man can rest his head.

Tags: Head, Ignorance, Rest

It is the mind that maketh good or ill, That maketh wretch or happy, rich or poor.

Tags: Good, Happy, Mind

Let us not be ashamed to speak what we shame not to think.

Tags: Ashamed, Shame, Speak

Marriage, a market which has nothing free but the entrance.

Tags: Free, Market, Marriage

Not being able to govern events, I govern myself.

Tags: Able, Events, Govern

We only labor to stuff the memory, and leave the conscience and the understanding unfurnished and void.

Tags: Conscience, Leave, Memory

A wise man never loses anything, if he has himself.

Tags: Himself, Loses, Wise

An untempted woman cannot boast of her chastity.

Tags: Cannot, Her, Woman

Any person of honor chooses rather to lose his honor than to lose his conscience.

Tags: Honor, Lose, Rather

How many condemnations I have witnessed more criminal than the crime!

Tags: Crime, Criminal, Witnessed

I have often seen people uncivil by too much civility, and tiresome in their courtesy.

Tags: Courtesy, Often, Seen

In nine lifetimes, you'll never know as much about your cat as your cat knows about you.

Tags: Cat, Knows, Lifetimes

My trade and art is to live.

Tags: Art, Trade

Nothing is so firmly believed as what we least know.

Tags: Believed, Firmly

Of all our infirmities, the most savage is to despise our being.

Tags: Despise, Savage

The ceaseless labour of your life is to build the house of death.

Tags: Death, House, Life

The thing I fear most is fear.

Tags: Fear

The way of the world is to make laws, but follow custom.

Tags: Custom, Follow, Laws

The world is all a carcass and vanity, The shadow of a shadow, a play And in one word, just nothing.

Tags: Shadow, Vanity, Word

The world is but a perpetual see-saw.

Tags: Perpetual

There are some defeats more triumphant than victories.

Tags: Failure, Triumphant, Victories

There is a sort of gratification in doing good which makes us rejoice in ourselves.

Tags: Good, Makes, Ourselves

There is no desire more natural than the desire for knowledge.

Tags: Desire, Knowledge, Natural

There is perhaps no more obvious vanity than to write of it so vainly.

Tags: Perhaps, Vanity, Write

We can be knowledgable with other men's knowledge but we cannot be wise with other men's wisdom.

Tags: Knowledge, Men, Wisdom

Wit is a dangerous weapon, even to the possessor, if he knows not how to use it discreetly.

Tags: Dangerous, Knows, Wit

Covetousness is both the beginning and the end of the devil's alphabet - the first vice in corrupt nature that moves, and the last which dies.

Tags: End, Last, Nature

Death, they say, acquits us of all obligations.

Tags: Death

Every man bears the whole stamp of the human condition.

Tags: Condition, Human, Whole

Few men have been admired of their familiars.

Tags: Admired, Few, Men

Fortune, seeing that she could not make fools wise, has made them lucky.

Tags: Lucky, She, Wise

How many things we held yesterday as articles of faith which today we tell as fables.

Tags: Faith, Tell, Today

I do not speak the minds of others except to speak my own mind better.

Tags: Mind, Others, Speak

If a man urge me to tell wherefore I loved him, I feel it cannot be expressed but by answering: Because it was he, because it was myself.

Tags: Cannot, Him, Tell

It is an absolute and virtually divine perfection to know how to enjoy our being rightfully.

Tags: Divine, Enjoy, Perfection

It should be noted that children at play are not playing about; their games should be seen as their most serious-minded activity.

Tags: Children, Playing, Seen

Let us permit nature to have her way. She understands her business better than we do.

Tags: Business, Her, Nature

The confidence in another man's virtue is no light evidence of a man's own, and God willingly favors such a confidence.

Tags: Confidence, God, Light

The finest souls are those that have the most variety and suppleness.

Tags: Finest, Souls, Variety

The public weal requires that men should betray, and lie, and massacre.

Tags: Betray, Lie, Men

The strangest, most generous, and proudest of all virtues is true courage.

Tags: Courage, Generous, True

The worst of my actions or conditions seem not so ugly unto me as I find it both ugly and base not to dare to avouch for them.

Tags: Both, Ugly, Worst

There is little less trouble in governing a private family than a whole kingdom.

Tags: Family, Less, Whole

There is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state.

Tags: Family, Government, Less

Unless a man feels he has a good enough memory, he should never venture to lie.

Tags: Enough, Good, Lie

Virtue rejects facility to be her companion. She requires a craggy, rough and thorny way.

Tags: Her, She, Virtue

We are Christians by the same title as we are natives of Perigord or Germany.

Tags: Christians, Germany, Title

If a man should importune me to give a reason why I loved him, I find it could no otherwise be expressed, than by making answer: because it was he, because it was I.

Tags: Give, Him, Why

It is a sign of contraction of the mind when it is content, or of weariness. A spirited mind never stops within itself; it is always aspiring and going beyond its strength.

Tags: Mind, Strength, Within

I put forward formless and unresolved notions, as do those who publish doubtful questions to debate in the schools, not to establish the truth but to seek it.

Tags: Forward, Put, Truth

I set forth a humble and inglorious life; that does not matter. You can tie up all moral philosophy with a common and private life just as well as with a life of richer stuff. Each man bears the entire form of man's estate.

Tags: Humble, Life, Philosophy

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.

Tags: Die, Job, Nature

In true education, anything that comes to our hand is as good as a book: the prank of a page- boy, the blunder of a servant, a bit of table talk - they are all part of the curriculum.

Tags: Education, Good, True

Even from their infancy we frame them to the sports of love: their instruction, behavior, attire, grace, learning and all their words azimuth only at love, respects only affection. Their nurses and their keepers imprint no other thing in them.

Tags: Learning, Love, Sports

The entire lower world was created in the likeness of the higher world. All that exists in the higher world appears like an image in this lower world; yet all this is but One.

Tags: Exists, Higher, Image

A good marriage would be between a blind wife and a deaf husband.

Tags: Good, Husband, Marriage

If you press me to say why I loved him, I can say no more than because he was he, and I was I.

Tags: Him, Love, Why

Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it.

Tags: Forget, Memory, Wish

Lend yourself to others, but give yourself to yourself.

Tags: Brainy, Give, Yourself

The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them... Whether you find satisfaction in life depends not on your tale of years, but on your will.

Tags: Days, Lies, Life

Stubborn and ardent clinging to one's opinion is the best proof of stupidity.

Tags: Best, Opinion, Stupidity

If there is such a thing as a good marriage, it is because it resembles friendship rather than love.

Tags: Friendship, Love, Marriage

The beautiful souls are they that are universal, open, and ready for all things.

Tags: Beautiful, Open, Ready

I have never seen a greater monster or miracle in the world than myself.

Tags: Greater, Miracle, Seen

Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside equally desperate to get out.

Tags: Desperate, Inside, Marriage

There is no conversation more boring than the one where everybody agrees.

Tags: Boring, Everybody

He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak.

Tags: Reason, Shows, Weak

I speak the truth not so much as I would, but as much as I dare, and I dare a little more as I grow older.

Tags: Older, Speak, Truth

A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears.

Tags: Fears, Suffering

Confidence in others' honesty is no light testimony of one's own integrity.

Tags: Confidence, Honesty, Integrity

I do myself a greater injury in lying than I do him of whom I tell a lie.

Tags: Him, Lie, Tell

Make your educational laws strict and your criminal ones can be gentle; but if you leave youth its liberty you will have to dig dungeons for ages.

Tags: Leave, Liberty, Youth

My life has been full of terrible misfortunes most of which never happened.

Tags: Full, Happened, Life
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