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
Michel de Montaigne quotes about
Whatever can be done another day can be done today.
Malice sucks up the greatest part of its own venom, and poisons itself.
All the opinions in the world point out that pleasure is our aim.
The diversity of physical arguments and opinions embraces all sorts of methods.
For truth itself has not the privilege to be spoken at all times and in all sorts.
All of the days go toward death and the last one arrives there.
As for extraordinary things, all the provision in the world would not suffice.
To make a crooked stick straight, we bend it the contrary way.
Our own peculiar human condition is that we are as fit to be laughed at as able to laugh.
A good marriage (if any there be) refuses the conditions of love and endeavors to present those of amity.
Obstinacy and heat in argument are surest proofs of folly. Is there anything so stubborn, obstinate, disdainful, contemplative, grave, or serious, as an ass?
To make judgements about great and lofty things, a soul of the same stature is needed; otherwise we ascribe to them that vice which is our own.
Courtesy, like grace and beauty, that which begets liking and inclination to love one another at the first sight, and in the very beginning of our acquaintance and familiarity; and, consequently, that which first opens the door for us to better ourselves by the example of others, if there be anything in the society worth notice
Not only does the wind of accidents stir me according to its blowing, but I am also stirred and troubled by the instability of my attitude.