Michel de Montaigne Quotes - Page 16

• As for our pupils talk, let his virtue and his sense of right and wrong shine through it and have no guide but reason. Make him understand that confessing an error which he discovers in his own argument even when he alone has noticed it is an act of justice and integrity, which are the main qualities he pursues; stubbornness and rancour are vulgar qualities, visible in common souls whereas to think again, to change one's mind and to give up a bad case on the heat of the argument are rare qualities showing strength and wisdom.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Giving Up, Integrity, Educational

  4 Copy quote

• I will follow the right side even to the fire, but excluding the fire if I can.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Integrity, Fire, Sides

  Michel de Montaigne (2013). “Michel de Montaigne: Selected Essays”, p.161, Courier Corporation

  7 Copy quote

• To smell, though well, is to stink.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Smell, Stink, Perfume

  Michel de Montaigne (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Michel de Montaigne (Illustrated)”, p.550, Delphi Classics

  8 Copy quote

• A person is bound to lose when he talks about himself; if he belittles himself, he is believed; if he praises himself, he isn't believed.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Bragging, Praise, Belittle

  11 Copy quote

• So it is with minds. Unless you keep them busy with some definite subject that will bridle and control them, they throw themselves in disorder hither and yon in the vague field of imagination... And there is no mad or idle fancy that they do not bring forth in the agitation.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Mad, Imagination, Mind

  Michel de Montaigne (1958). “Complete Essays”, p.21, Stanford University Press

  5 Copy quote

• We perceive no charms that are not sharpened, puffed out, and inflated by artifice. Those which glide along naturally and simply easily escape a sight so gross as ours.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Sight, Human Nature, Charm

  Michel de Montaigne (1976). “The Complete Essays of Montaigne”

  4 Copy quote

• The souls of emperors and cobblers are cast in the same mold...The same reason that makes us wrangle with a neighbor creates a war betwixt princes.

  Michel de Montaigne

  War, Equality, Soul

  "Essais" by Michel de Montaigne, Book II, Ch. 12, 1595.

  24 Copy quote

• He whose mouth is out of taste says the wine is flat.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Wine, Mouths, Taste

  Michel de Montaigne (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Michel de Montaigne (Illustrated)”, p.838, Delphi Classics

  12 Copy quote

• 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.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Dream, Real, Eye

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

  5 Copy quote

• It is an absolute perfection... to get the very most out of one's individuality.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Perfection, Individuality, Absolutes

  12 Copy quote

• I am afraid that our eyes are bigger than our stomachs, and that we have more curiosity than understanding. We grasp at everything, but catch nothing except wind.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Eye, Wind, Understanding

  Michel de Montaigne (1958). “Essays”

  7 Copy quote

• In order always to learn something from others (which is the finest school there can be), I observe in my travels this practice: I always steer those with whom I talk back to the things they know best.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Travel, School, Order

  4 Copy quote

• Decency, not to dare to do that in public which it is decent enough to do in private.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Enough, Dare, Decent

  Michel de Montaigne (2015). “Montaigne's Essays: Top Essays”, p.613, 谷月社

  6 Copy quote

• As far as fidelity is concerned, there is no animal in the world as treacherous as man.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Animal, Men, World

  "Essais" by Michel de Montaigne, Book II, Ch. 12, 1595.

  7 Copy quote

• Nature is a gentle guide, but not more sweet and gentle than prudent and just.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Sweet, Nature, Prudent

  Michel de Montaigne, George Savile Marquis of Halifax (1743). “Montaigne's Essays in Three Books: With Notes and Quotations. And an Account of the Author's Life. With a Short Character of the Author and Translator”, p.399

  4 Copy quote

• Some men seem remarkable to the world in whom neither their wives nor their valets saw anything extraordinary. Few men have been admired by their servants.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Men, Wife, World

  4 Copy quote

• For table-talk, I prefer the pleasant and witty before the learned and the grave; in bed, beauty before goodness.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Witty, Bed, Tables

  Michel de Montaigne (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Michel de Montaigne (Illustrated)”, p.397, Delphi Classics

  4 Copy quote

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

  Michel de Montaigne

  Inspirational, Faith, Thinking

  "The Concise Columbia Dictionary of Quotations". Book by Robert Andrews, Columbia University Press, p.104, 1989.

  7 Copy quote

• A foreign war is a lot milder than a civil war.

  Michel de Montaigne

  War, Civil War

  4 Copy quote

• The plague of man is boasting of his knowledge.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Men, Plague, Boast

  "Essais" by Michel de Montaigne, Book II, Ch. 12, 1595.

  4 Copy quote

• Men throw themselves on foreign assistances to spare their own, which, after all, are the only certain and sufficient ones.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Men, Self, Certain

  4 Copy quote

• Why did I love her? Because it was her; because it was me.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Love, Heart

  5 Copy quote

• It is far more probable that our senses should deceive us, than that an old woman should be carried up a chimney on a broom stick; and that it is far less astonishing that witnesses should lie, than that witches should perform the acts that were alleged.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Lying, Atheism, Sticks

  5 Copy quote

• Dreams are faithful interpreters of our inclinations; but there is art required to sort and understand them.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Dream, Art, Faithful

  Michel de Montaigne (2015). “Essays of Montaigne”, p.1257, Xist Publishing

  4 Copy quote

• 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.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Beautiful, Book, Ties

  12 Copy quote

You May Also Like:

Etienne de La Boetie

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Rene Descartes

Niccolo Machiavelli

Pierre de Ronsard

William Shakespeare

Francois Rabelais

Desiderius Erasmus