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Michel de Montaigne

Michel de Montaigne Quotes

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Famous Michel de Montaigne Quotes

“Since it has pleased God to endue us with some capacity of reason, to the end we may not, like brutes, be servilely subject and enslaved to the laws common to both, but that we should by judgment and a voluntary liberty apply ourselves to them, we ought, indeed, something to yield to the simple authority of nature, but not suffer ourselves to be tyrannically hurried away and transported by her; reason alone should have the conduct of our inclinations. I, for my part, have a strange disgust for those propensions that are started in us without the mediation and direction of the judgment.”

ReasonRationality
Book:Essays
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“Had I been placed among those nations which are said to live still in the sweet freedom of nature's first laws, I assure you I should very gladly have portrayed myself here entire and wholly naked. Thus, reader, I am myself the matter of my book; you would be unreasonable to spend your leisure on so frivolous and vain a subject.”

HumilityEssaysMontaigne
Book:The Complete Works: Essays, Travel Journal, Letters
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“I enter into conference, and dispute with great liberty and facility, forasmuch as opinion meets in me with a soil very unfit for penetration, and wherein to take any deep root; no propositions astonish me, no belief offends me, though never so contrary to my own; there is no so frivolous and extravagant fancy that does not seem to me suitable to the production of human wit. We, who deprive our judgment of the right of determining, look indifferently upon the diverse opinions, and if we incline not our judgment to them, yet we easily give them the hearing.”

OpinionListeningOpennessArt Of Conversation
Book:The Complete Essays
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“Men jeg innser klart at dette gode er svært vanskelig å gjenvinne; svakhet og lang erfaring har gitt oss en mer kresen og nøyeregnende smak. Vi forlanger mer samtidig som vi har mindre å tilby; vi vil ha flere valgmuligheter, når vi selv minst fortjener å bli valgt. Fordi vi vet at i er slik, blir vi mindre dristige og mer mistroiske, og i betraktning av vår egen og deres tilstand, er det ikke noe som kan forsikre oss om at vi er elsket.”

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Book:The Complete Essays
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“Plato forbids children wine till eighteen years of age, and to get drunk till forty; but, after forty, gives them leave to please themselves, and to mix a little liberally in their feasts the influence of Dionysos, that good deity who restores to younger men their gaiety and to old men their youth...fit to inspire old men with mettle to divert themselves in dancing and music; things of great use, and that they dare not attempt when sober.”

InspirationYouthWineDancingDrinkingOld AgeDrunkDaringSoberPlatoFree SpiritLawsDionysosLegal Age
Book:The Complete Essays
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“Overigens is wat wij gewoonlijk vrienden en vriendschappen noemen niet meer dan een door een of ander toeval of vordeel tot stand gekomen bekendheid of vertrouwdheid met iemand, waarin de geesten elkaar vinden. In de vriendschap waarvan ik spreek, vermengen en versmelten beide geesten zich tot een zo alles omvattend samengaan, dat ze de naad die hen verbindt foen verdwijnen en niet meer terugvinden. Als men bij mij zou aandringen te zeggen waarom ik van hem hield, voel ik dat dat alleen uitgedrukt kan worden door te antwoorden: 'Omdat hij het was; omdat ik het was'.”

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Book:Essays
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“Illam meae si partem animae tulit Maturior vis, quid moror altera? Nec carus aeque, nec superstes Integer. Ille dies ultramque Ducet ruinam. [Wenn meinen besten Teil der Seele die Parzen vor der Zeit abrissen, was zaudert der andere, der mir nicht lieber, nicht überlebender ist! Ein Tag stürzt uns beide ins Grab.]”

FreundschaftLatin Quotes
Book:Die Essays Michel de Montaigne: Die Originalkopie des Buches
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“A tutor should not be continually thundering instruction into the ears of his pupil, as if he were pouring it through a funnel, but, after having put the lad, like a young horse, on a trot, before him, to observe his paces, and see what he is able to perform, should, according to the extent of his capacity, induce him to taste, to distinguish, and to find out things for himself; sometimes opening the way, at other times leaving it for him to open; and by abating or increasing his own pace, accommodate his precepts to the capacity of his pupil.”

IfsWayShouldSometimesAbleYoungTeachingTasteCapacityEarsHorseLeavingOpeningPaceInstructionPupilsPouringAccommodateLadTutor
Author:Michel de Montaigne
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“Whom conscience, ne'er asleep, Wounds with incessant strokes, not loud, but deep.”

ConscienceWoundsLoudStrokesIncessant
Book:Works, Comprising His Essays, Letters, and Journey Through Germany and Italy: With Notes from All the Commentators, Biographical and Bibliographical Notices &c., &c
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“Obstinacy and contention are common qualities, most appearing in, and best becoming, a mean and illiterate soul.”

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Book: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
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