“A speech belongs half to the speaker and half to the listener.”
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Famous Michel de Montaigne Quotes
Source: Works: Comprising His Essays, Letters, and Journey Through Germany and Italy; with Notes, Notices, Etc
“Hath God obliged himself not to exceed the bounds of our knowledge?”
Source: Selected essays of Montaigne: in the translation of John Florio
Source: Montaigne's Essays: Top Essays
“I have seen people rude by being over-polite.”
Source: The Autobiography of Michel de Montaigne: Comprising the Life of the Wisest Man of His Times : His Childhood, Youth, and Prime : His Adventures in Love and Marriage, at Court, and in Office, War, Revolution, and Plague : His Travels at Home and Abroad : His Habits, Tastes, Whims, and Opinions
Source: Annotated Essays of Michel de Montaigne with English Grammar Exercises: by Michel de Montaigne (Author), Robert Powell (Editor)
“Nothing prints more lively in our minds than something we wish to forget.”
Source: Montaigne's Essays: Top Essays
“Shame on all eloquence which leaves us with a taste for itself and not for its substance.”
Source: Selections from the Essays
“There is a plague on Man, the opinion that he knows something.”
Source: The Complete Essays of Montaigne
Source: Montaigne's Essays: Top Essays
“All permanent decisions are made in a temporary state of mind.”
Source: Delphi Complete Works of Michel de Montaigne (Illustrated)
“No spiritual mind remains within itself; it is always aspiring and going beyond its own strength.”
“There is nothing in which a horse's power is better revealed than in a neat, clean stop.”
“He that is a friend to himself, know; he is a friend to all.”
Source: Essays of Montaigne
Source: Essays
Source: Literary and Philosophical Essays
“Among the liberal arts, let us begin with the art that liberates us.”
Source: Complete Essays
“Though we may be learned by another's knowledge, we can never be wise but by our own experience.”
Source: The Essays of Michael de Montaigne
“If by being overstudious, we impair our health and spoil our good humor, let us give it up.”
Source: The Essays of Michel de Montaigne
“It is in the enjoyment and not in mere possession that makes for happiness.”
“A good marriage would be between a blind wife and a deaf husband.”
“Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it.”
“Stubborn and ardent clinging to one's opinion is the best proof of stupidity.”
“I have never seen a greater monster or miracle in the world than myself.”
Source: Montaigne's Essays in Three Books: With Notes and Quotations. And an Account of the Author's Life. With a Short Character of the Author and Translator
“The beautiful souls are they that are universal, open, and ready for all things.”
Source: Delphi Complete Works of Michel de Montaigne (Illustrated)
“There is no conversation more boring than the one where everybody agrees.”
“My life has been full of terrible misfortunes most of which never happened.”
“He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak.”