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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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“The thing in the world I am most afraid of is fear, and with good reason; that passion alone, in the trouble of it, exceeding all other accidents”

WorldReasonPassionFearTroubleAccidents
Book:The Works of Michael de Montaigne: 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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“We have more poets than judges and interpreters of poetry. It is easier to write an indifferent poem than to understand a good one. There is, indeed, a certain low and moderate sort of poetry, that a man may well enough judge by certain rules of art; but the true, supreme, and divine poesy is equally above all rules and reason. And whoever discerns the beauty of it with the most assured and most steady sight sees no more than the quick reflection of a flash of lightning.”

MenWritingWellsMayArtReasonEnoughPoetryCertainDivinePoetJudgingEasierLowsReflectionSightSupremeSteadyFlashLightningIndifferentAssuredModeratesInterpreter
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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“Vice leaves repentance in the soul, like an ulcer in the flesh, which is always scratching and lacerating itself; for reason effaces all other griefs and sorrows, but it begets that of repentance.”

SoulReasonGriefSorrowVicesFleshRepentanceBegetsUlcers
Book:The Works of Michael de Montaigne: Comprising His Essays, Letters, and Journey Through Germany and Italy
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“It was truly very good reason that we should be beholden to God only, and to the favour of his grace, for the truth of so noble a belief, since from his sole bounty we receive the fruit of immortality, which consists in the enjoyment of eternal beatitude.... The more we give and confess to owe and render to God, we do it with the greater Christianity.”

GivingShouldReasonBeliefChristianityGreaterGraceEternalFruitVery GoodNobleImmortalityEnjoymentSoleFavourBounty
Book:Annotated Essays of Michel de Montaigne with English Grammar Exercises: by Michel de Montaigne (Author), Robert Powell (Editor)
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“I see men ordinarily more eager to discover a reason for things than to find out whether the things are so.”

MenReasonKnowledgeLibertarian
Book: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
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“As for our pupils talk, let his virtue and his sense of right and wrong shine through it and have no guide but reason. Make him understand that confessing an error which he discovers in his own argument even when he alone has noticed it is an act of justice and integrity, which are the main qualities he pursues; stubbornness and rancour are vulgar qualities, visible in common souls whereas to think again, to change one's mind and to give up a bad case on the heat of the argument are rare qualities showing strength and wisdom.”

ThinkingGivingMindSoulReasonJusticeCommonQualityCasesVirtueWords Of WisdomIntegrityGiving UpArgumentShiningErrorsEducationalGuidesPursueHeatVisibleVulgarPupilsStubbornnessConfessingStrength And Wisdom
Author:Michel de Montaigne
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