And to bring in a new word by the head and shoulders, they leave out the old one. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
There is no doubt that Greek and Latin are great and handsome ornaments, but we buy them too dear. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
An ancient father says that a dog we know is better company than a man whose language we do not understand. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Our speech has its weaknesses and its defects, like all the rest. Most of the occasions for the troubles of the world… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
“Handling and use by able minds give value to a language, not so much by innovating as by filling it out with… — 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
Just as in habiliments it is a sign of weakness to wish to make oneself noticeable by some peculiar and unaccustomed fashion,… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
And as hearbes and trees are bettered and fortified by being transplanted, so formes of speach are embellished and graced by variation....… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
What enriches language is its being handled and exploited by beautiful minds-not so much by making innovations as by expanding it through… — 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
