Michel de Montaigne Quotes

• The only thing certain is nothing is certain.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Positive, Wise, Wisdom

  6 Copy quote

• I want death to find me planting my cabbages, but careless of death, and still more of my unfinished garden.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Garden, Want, Cabbage

  Michel de Montaigne (1958). “Complete Essays”, p.62, Stanford University Press

  2 Copy quote

• Every movement reveals us.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Movement

  Michel de Montaigne (1958). “Complete Essays”, p.219, Stanford University Press

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• There is nothing of evil in life for him who rightly comprehends that death is no evil; to know how to die delivers us from all subjection and constraint.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Death, Evil, Constraints

  Michel de Montaigne “Annotated Essays of Michel de Montaigne with English Grammar Exercises: by Michel de Montaigne (Author), Robert Powell (Editor)”, Powell Publications, LLC

  0 Copy quote

• Amongst all other vices there is none I hate more than cruelty, both by nature and judgment, as the extremest of all vices.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Hate, Vices, Judgment

  1 Copy quote

• The profit we possess after study is to have become better and wiser.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Educational, Study, Profit

  Michel de Montaigne (1991). “The essays of Michel de Montaigne”, Lane, Allen

  3 Copy quote

• We cannot be held to what is beyond our strength and means; for at times the accomplishment and execution may not be in our power, and indeed there is nothing really in our own power except the will: on this are necessarily based and founded all the principles that regulate the duty of man.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Mean, Men, Principles

  3 Copy quote

• If others surpass you in knowledge, in charm, in strength, in fortune, you have other causes to blame for it; but if you yield tothem in stoutness of heart you have only yourself to blame.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Heart, Yield, Self

  3 Copy quote

• 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.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Book, Boys, Hands

  Michel de Montaigne, Marvin Lowenthal (1999). “The Autobiography of Michel de Montaigne: Comprising the Life of the Wisest Man of His Times : His Childhood, Youth, and Prime : His Adventures in Love and Marriage, at Court, and in Office, War, Revolution, and Plague : His Travels at Home and Abroad : His Habits, Tastes, Whims, and Opinions”, p.24, David R. Godine Publisher

  6 Copy quote

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

  Michel de Montaigne

  Inspirational, Funny, Life

  Attributed to "Essais" by Michel de Montaigne, 1595.

  70 Copy quote

• 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.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Lying, Satisfaction In Life, Years

  Attributed to "Essais" by Michel de Montaigne, Book I, Ch. 20, 1595.

  97 Copy quote

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

  Michel de Montaigne

  Courage, Navy, Virtue

  Attributed to "Essais" by Michel de Montaigne, 1595.

  5 Copy quote

• The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Respect, Self Esteem, Being Alone

  Michel de Montaigne (1958). “Complete Essays”, p.178, Stanford University Press

  78 Copy quote

• Don't discuss yourself, for you are bound to lose; if you belittle yourself, you are believed; if you praise yourself, you are disbelieved.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Praise, Belittle, Ifs

  Attributed to "Essais" by Michel de Montaigne, Book III, Ch. 8, 1595.

  6 Copy quote

• Truly it is reasonable to make a great distinction between the faults that come from our weakness and those that come from our wickedness.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Evil, Weakness, Wickedness

  6 Copy quote

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

  Michel de Montaigne

  Wisdom, Agreement, Political

  Attributed to "Essais" by Michel de Montaigne, 1595.

  63 Copy quote

• We must learn to endure what we cannot avoid. Our life is composed, like the harmony of the world, of contrary things, also of different tones, sweet and harsh, sharp and flat, soft and loud. If a musician liked only one kind, what would he have to say?

  Michel de Montaigne

  Life, Sweet, Diversity

  Michel de Montaigne (1963). “Montaigne's Essays and Selected Writings”

  85 Copy quote

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

  Michel de Montaigne

  Beauty, Beautiful, Soul

  Michel de Montaigne (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Michel de Montaigne (Illustrated)”, p.894, Delphi Classics

  8 Copy quote

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

  Michel de Montaigne

  Love, Marriage, Ifs

  8 Copy quote

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

  Michel de Montaigne

  Education, Teaching, Learning

  Attributed to "Essais" by Michel de Montaigne, 1595.

  44 Copy quote

• Man is quite insane. He wouldn?t know how to create a maggot, and he creates Gods by the dozen.

  Michel de Montaigne

  God, Crazy, Men

  'Essais' (1580) bk. 2, ch. 12

  48 Copy quote

• Lend yourself to others, but give yourself to yourself.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Confidence, Self Esteem, Love Yourself

  "Essais" by Michel de Montaigne, Chapter X, 1595.

  21 Copy quote

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

  Michel de Montaigne

  Fear, Happy Life, Men

  61 Copy quote

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

  Michel de Montaigne

  Anniversary, Marriage, Wedding

  Attributed to "Essais" by Michel de Montaigne, Book I, Ch. 20, 1595.

  56 Copy quote

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

  Michel de Montaigne

  Stupid, Stubborn, Opinion

  46 Copy quote

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