I would rather be old for a shorter time than be old before my time. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
For truth itself has not the privilege to be spoken at all times and in all sorts. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
“In our time the most warlike nations are the most rude and ignorant.” — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Lucius Arruntius killed himself, he said, to escape both the future and the past. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Every period of life has its peculiar prejudices; whoever saw old age, that did not applaud the past, and condemn the present… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Every one rushes elsewhere and into the future, because no one wants to face one's own inner self. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
An orator of past times declared that his calling was to make small things appear to be grand. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
There is nothing more notable in Socrates than that he found time, when he was an old man, to learn music and… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
And if nobody reads me, shall I have wasted my time, when I have beguiled so many idle hours with such pleasant… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
People of our time are so formed for agitation and ostentation that goodness, moderation, equability, constancy, and such quiet and obscure qualities… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Live as long as you please, you will strike nothing off the time you will have to spend dead. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
For truth itself does not have the privilege to be employed at any time and in every way; its use, noble as… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
After mature deliberation of counsel, the good Queen to establish a rule and immutable example unto all posterity, for the moderation and… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
“Let us never allow ourselves to be carried away so completely by pleasure that we fail to recall from time to time… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Any time and any place can be used to study: his room, a garden, is table, his bed; when alone or in… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Petty vexations may at times be petty, but still they are vexations. The smallest and most inconsiderable annoyances are the most piercing.… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
The vulgar and common esteem is seldom happy in hitting right; and I am much mistaken if, amongst the writings of my… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Our thoughts are always elsewhere; we are stayed and supported by the hope for a better life, or by the hope that… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
The pleasure we hold in esteem for the course of our lives ought to have a greater share of our time dedicated… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
I have a vocabulary all my own. I pass the time when itis wet and disagreeable. Whenit is fine I do not… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
I would like to suggest that our minds are swamped by too much study and by too much matter just as plants… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Custom is a violent and treacherous school mistress. She, by little and lithe, slyly and unperceived, slips in the foot of her… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
If I had to live my life over again I would live it as I have lived it; I neither regret the… — Michel De Montaigne Copy Share Image
We are never present with, but always beyond ourselves; fear, desire, hope, still push us on toward the future. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
To how many blockheads of my time has a cold and taciturn demeanor procured the credit of prudence and capacity! — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
No man dies before his hour. The time you leave behind was no more yours, than that which was before your birth,… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
The utility of living consists not in the length of days, but in the use of time; a man may have lived… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
If you want it to be so, history can be a waste of time; it can also be, if you want it… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Were I to live my life over again, I should live it just as I have done. I neither complain of the… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
We are all patchwork, and so shapeless and diverse in composition that each bit, each moment, plays its own game. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
The strength of any plan depends on the time. Circumstances and things eternally shift and change. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
“Every one of us is a hodge-podge, so shapeless and diverse in structure that each piece, each moment, plays its own game.… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Aesop, that great man, saw his master making water as he walked. "What!" he said, "Must we void ourselves as we run?"… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
No two men ever judged alike of the same thing, and it is impossible to find two opinions exactly similar, not only… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
T is one and the same Nature that rolls on her course, and whoever has sufficiently considered the present state of things… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Oh, what a valiant faculty is hope, that in a mortal subject, and in a moment, makes nothing of usurping infinity, immensity,… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
We cannot be held to what is beyond our strength and means; for at times the accomplishment and execution may not be… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
No man is exempt from saying silly things; the mischief is to say them deliberately. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share
The laws keep up their credit, not by being just, but because they are laws; 'tis the mystic foundation of their authority; they have… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share
Every one rushes elsewhere and into the future, because no one wants to face one's own inner self. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share
Beauty is the true prerogative of women, and so peculiarly their own, that our sex, though naturally requiring another sort of feature, is never… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share
The height and value of true virtue consists in the facility, utility, and pleasure of its exercise; so far from difficulty, that boys, as… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share
The plainest sign of wisdom is a continual cheerfulness: her state is like that of things in the regions above the moon, always clear… — Michel De Montaigne Copy Share
The corruption of the age is made up by the particular contribution of every individual man; some contribute treachery, others injustice, atheism, tyranny, avarice,… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share
If people must be talking about me, I would have it to be truthfully and justly. I would willingly return from the next world… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share
In true friendship, in which I am expert, I give myself to my friend more than I draw him to me. I not only… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share
There are as many and innumerable degrees of wit, as there are cubits between this and heaven. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share
Lucius Arruntius killed himself, he said, to escape both the future and the past. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share
I have a vocabulary all my own. I pass the time when itis wet and disagreeable. Whenit is fine I do not wish to… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share
