Michel de Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne
Michel Eyquem de Montaignewas one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance, known for popularizing the essay as a literary genre. His work is noted for its merging of casual anecdotes and autobiography with serious intellectual insight; his massive volume Essaiscontains some of the most influential essays ever written. Montaigne had a direct influence on writers all over the world, including Francis Bacon, René Descartes, Blaise Pascal, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Albert Hirschman, William Hazlitt, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Friedrich Nietzsche,...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth28 February 1533
CountryFrance
Lying is a terrible vice, it testifies that one despises God, but fears men.
The honor of the conquest is rated by the difficulty.
We have power over nothing except our will.
Oh, what a valiant faculty is hope.
When all is summed up, a man never speaks of himself without loss; his accusations of himself are always believed; his praises never.
Those sciences which govern the morals of mankind, such as Theology and Philosophy, make everything their concern: no activity is so private or so secret as to escape their attention or their jurisdiction.
But as Nature is the best guide, teaching must be the development of natural inclinations, for which purpose the teacher must watch his pupil and listen to him, not continually bawl words into his ears as if pouring water into a funnel. Good teaching will come from a mind well made rather than well filled.
If you want it to be so, history can be a waste of time; it can also be, if you want it to be so, a study bearing fruit beyond price.
Philosophical discussions habitually make men happy and joyful not frowning and sad.
Philosophical discussions habitually make men happy and joyful not frowning and sad.
Happiness involves working toward meaningful goals.
For truth itself does not have the privilege to be employed at any time and in every way; its use, noble as it is, has its circumscriptions and limits.
The concern that some women show at the absence of their husbands, does not arise from their not seeing them and being with them, but from their apprehension that their husbands are enjoying pleasures in which they do not participate, and which, from their being at a distance, they have not the power of interrupting.
An untempted woman cannot boast of her chastity.