The most fruitful and natural exercise for our minds is, in my opinion, conversation. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
There is no desire more natural than the desire for knowledge. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
The land of marriage has this peculiarity: that strangers are desirous of inhabiting it, while its natural inhabitants would willingly be banished… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
There is no desire more natural than the desire of knowledge. (Il n'est desir plus naturel que le desir de connaissance) — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Ceremony forbids us to express by words things that are lawful and natural, and we obey it; reason forbids us to do… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
I want to be seen here in my simple, natural, ordinary fashion, without straining or artifice; for it is myself that I… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Presumption is our natural and original malady. The most vulnerable and frail of all creatures is man, and at the same time… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
My errors are by now natural and incorrigible; but the good that worthy men do the public by making themselves imitable, I… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
I consider it equal injustice to set our heart against natural pleasures and to set our heart too much on them. We… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Man is the sole animal whose nudities offend his own companions, and the only one who, in his natural actions, withdraws and… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
To divert myself from a troublesome fancy, it is but to run to my books; they presently fix me to them, and… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
What harm cause not those huge draughts or pictures which wanton youth with chalk or coals draw in each passage, wall or… — 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
The common notions that we find in credit around us and infused into our souls by our fathers' seed, these seem to… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
In my opinion, the most fruitful and natural play of the mind is in conversation. I find it sweeter than any other… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
There is indeed a certain sense of gratification when we do a good deed that gives us inward satisfaction, and a generous… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
We have the pleasures suitable to our lot; let us not usurp those of greatness. Ours are more natural and all the… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Men do not know the natural infirmity of their mind: it does nothing but ferret and quest, and keeps incessantly whirling around,… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
.. since it was true that study, even when done properly, can only teach us what wisdom, right conduct and determination consist… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Traveling through the world produces a marvelous clarity in the judgment of men. We are all of us confined and enclosed within… — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Some, either from being glued to vice by a natural attachment, or from long habit, no longer recognize its ugliness. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Natural inclinations are assisted and reinforced by education, but they are hardly ever altered or overcome. — Michel de Montaigne Copy Share Image
Is it reasonable that even the arts should take advantage of and profit by our natural stupidity and feebleness of mind? — 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
