When we see a man with bad shoes, we say it is no wonder, if he is a shoemaker. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
I will follow the right side even to the fire, but excluding the fire if I can. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Wise people are foolish if they cannot adapt to foolish people. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
If I were of the trade, I should naturalize art as much as they "artialize" nature. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
He who falls obstinate in his courage, if he falls he fights from his knees. — 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
There is not one of us that would not be worse than kings, if so continually corrupted as they are with a… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
If my mind could gain a firm footing, I would not make essays, I would make decisions; but it is always in… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
A good marriage (if any there be) refuses the conditions of love and endeavors to present those of amity. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Might I have had my own will, I would not have married Wisdom herself, if she would have had me. — 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Memory is a wonderfully useful tool, and without it judgement does its work with difficulty; it is entirely lacking in me… Now,the… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
God might grant us riches, honours, life, and even health, to our own hurt; for every thing that is pleasing to us… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Marriage has, for its share, usefulness, justice, honour, and constancy; a stale but more durable pleasure. Love is grounded on pleasure alone,… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Learning is not to be tacked to the mind, but we must fuse and blend them together, not merely giving the mind… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
A tutor should not be continually thundering instruction into the ears of his pupil, as if he were pouring it through a… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
For all parts of the body that we see fit to expose to the wind and air are found fit to endure… — 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
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
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 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
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
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
If I can, I shall keep my death from saying anything that my life has not already said. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
If you press me to say why I loved him, I can say no more than it was because he was he,… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
I aim here only at revealing myself, who will perhaps be different tomorrow, if I learn something new which changes me. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Virtue cannot be followed but for herself, and if one sometimes borrows her mask to some other purpose, she presently pulls it… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
If by being overstudious, we impair our health and spoil our good humor, let us give it up. — 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
