Michel de Montaigne
French Renaissance philosopher and essayist, 1533-1592
28 quotes.
Quotes by Michel de Montaigne
- A man is not hurt so much by what happens, as by his opinion of what happens.
- A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears.
- Don’t be afraid to say what you are not afraid to think.
- Have you known how to compose your manners? You have done a great deal more than he who has composed books. Have you known how to take repose? You have done more than he who has taken cities and empires.
- He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that reason is weak.
- He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears.
- I quote others only the better to express myself.
- In the education of children there is nothing like alluring the interest and affection; otherwise you only make so many asses laden with books.
- It is fruition, and not possession, that renders us happy.
- It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others.
- Knowledge by rote is no knowledge, it is only a retention of what has been intrusted to the memory.
- Learned we may be with another man’s learning: we can only be wise with wisdom of our own.
- No noble thing can be done without risks.
- No wind favors he who has no destined port.
- Not being able to govern events, I govern myself, and apply myself to them, if they will not apply themselves to me.
- The most certain sign of wisdom is a continual cheerfulness.
- The most manifest sign of wisdom is a continual cheerfulness; her state is like that of things in the regions above the moon, always clear and serene.
- The most outstanding gifts can be destroyed by idleness.
- The question is not who is the most learned, but who is the best.
- The soul which has no fixed purpose in life is lost; to be everywhere, is to be nowhere.
- 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.
- The utility of living consists not in the length of days, but in the use of time; a man may have lived long, and yet lived but a little.
- There are defeats more triumphant than victories.
- Things are not so painful and difficult of themselves, but our weakness or cowardice makes them so.
- To know by rote is no knowledge; it is only a retention of what is intrusted to the memory. That which a man truly knows may be disposed of without regard to the author, or reference to the book from whence he had it.
- Truly, it is not want, but rather abundance, that breeds avarice.
- We can be knowledgeable with other men's knowledge, but we cannot be wise with other men's wisdom.
- We should ask not who is the most learned, but who is the best learned.