All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should not speak so boldly if it… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
There is no man so good that if he placed all his actions and thoughts under the scrutiny of the laws, he… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
If love and ambition should be in equal balance, and come to jostle with equal force, I make no doubt but that… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
If your doctor does not think it good for you to sleep, to drink wine, or to eat of a particular dish,… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
If faces were not alike, we could not distinguish men from beasts; if they were not different, we could not tell one… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Princes give mee sufficiently, if they take nothing from me, and doe me much good, if they doe me no hurt: it… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
A father is very miserable who has no other hold on his children's affection than the need they have of his assistance,… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
A person is bound to lose when he talks about himself; if he belittles himself, he is believed; if he praises himself,… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
If others surpass you in knowledge, in charm, in strength, in fortune, you have other causes to blame for it; but if… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
If to take up books were to take them in, and if to see them were to consider them, and to run… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Man will rise, if God by exception lends him a hand; he will rise by abandoning and renouncing his own means, and… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
If not for that of conscience, yet at least for ambition's sake, let us reject ambition, let us disdain that thirst of… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
We find ourselves more taken with the running up and down, the games, and puerile simplicities of our children, than we do,… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Books are pleasant, but if by being over-studious we impair our health and spoil our good humour, two of the best things… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
If you have known how to compose your life, you have done a great deal more than the person who knows how… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
But as Nature is the best guide, teaching must be the development of natural inclinations, for which purpose the teacher must watch… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
If I were a maker of books I should compile a register, with comments, of different deaths. He who should teach people… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Love is like playing the piano. First you must learn to play by the rules, then you must forget the rules and… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
If people must be talking about me, I would have it to be truthfully and justly. I would willingly return from the… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
In his commerce with men I mean him to include- and that principally- those who live only in the memory of books.… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
I seek in books only to give myself pleasure by honest amusement; or if I study, I seek only the learning that… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
If I am to serve as an instrument of deceit, at least let it be with a clear conscience. I do not… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
If others examined themselves attentively, as I do, they would find themselves, as I do, full of inanity and nonsense. Get rid… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Courtesy, like grace and beauty, that which begets liking and inclination to love one another at the first sight, and in the… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Courtesy is a science of the highest importance. It is... opening a door that we may derive instruction from the example of… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
If atoms do, by chance, happen to combine themselves into so many shapes, why have they never combined together to form a… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Great authors, when they write about causes, adduce not only those they think are true but also those they do not believe… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Others form man; I tell of him, and portray a particular one, very ill-formed, whom I should really make very different from… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
The human face is a weak guarantee; yet it deserves some consideration. And if I had to whip the wicked, I would… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
How often, being moved under a false cause, if the person offending makes a good defense and presents us with a just… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
"Ultimately the bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation." -If you press me to say why I… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Lay a beam between these two towers of such width as we need to walk on: there is no philosophical wisdom of… — 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
If my intentions were not to be read in my eyes and voice, I should not have survived so long without quarrels… — 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 Image
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 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
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 Image
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 Image
Fie on the eloquence that leaves us craving itself, not things! — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
There are as many and innumerable degrees of wit, as there are cubits between this and heaven. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
