Michel de Montaigne
French essayist and philosopher (1533 to 1592); mayor of Bordeaux; author of the Essays, in three books.
Michel de Montaigne did not write this page. ppll compiled it from their own words, each linked to the source. Is this you? · Report a mistake
What they believe
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Learning to die is learning to be free; whoever has learned to die has unlearned servitude
Where death waits for us is uncertain; let us look for him everywhere. The premeditation of death is the premeditation of liberty; he who has learned to die has unlearned to serve.
gutenberg.orgSaid c. 1571–1592This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These one: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 8 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
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Learning to die is learning to be free; whoever has learned to die has unlearned servitude
Where death waits for us is uncertain; let us look for him everywhere. The premeditation of death is the premeditation of liberty; he who has learned to die has unlearned to serve.
Essays (tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877) Said c. 1571–1592
People call barbarous whatever is not customary in their own country
Now, to return to my subject, I find that there is nothing barbarous and savage in this nation, by anything that I can gather, excepting, that every one gives the title of barbarism to everything that is not in use in his own country.
Essays (tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877) Said c. 1571–1592
The greatest thing in the world is for a person to know that they belong to themselves
The greatest thing in the world is for a man to know that he is his own.
Essays (tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877) Said c. 1571–1592
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Cruelty is the most extreme of all vices
Amongst other vices, I mortally hate cruelty, both by nature and judgment, as the very extreme of all vices: nay, with so much tenderness that I cannot see a chicken’s neck pulled off without trouble, and cannot without impatience endure the cry of a hare in my dog’s teeth, though the chase be a violent pleasure.
Essays (tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877) Said c. 1571–1592
A person playing with a cat cannot know whether they amuse the cat more than it amuses them
When I play with my cat who knows whether I do not make her more sport than she makes me? We mutually divert one another with our play.
Essays (tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877) Said c. 1571–1592
Moral philosophy applies as well to an ordinary private life as to a grand one, since every person carries the whole human condition
I propose a life ordinary and without lustre: ‘tis all one; all moral philosophy may as well be applied to a common and private life, as to one of richer composition: every man carries the entire form of human condition.
Essays (tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877) Said c. 1571–1592
No desire is more natural than the desire for knowledge
There is no desire more natural than that of knowledge.
Essays (tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877) Said c. 1571–1592
Even on the highest throne a person is only sitting on their own backside; the finest lives keep to the common human model
‘Tis to much purpose to go upon stilts, for, when upon stilts, we must yet walk with our legs; and when seated upon the most elevated throne in the world, we are but seated upon our breech. The fairest lives, in my opinion, are those which regularly accommodate themselves to the common and human model without miracle, without extravagance.
Essays (tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877) Said c. 1571–1592
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