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Michel de Montaigne Quotes - Page 14

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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

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.

Michel de Montaigne
Art, Writing, Reflection
Michel de Montaigne (1850). “Works, Comprising His Essays, Letters, and Journey Through Germany and Italy: With Notes from All the Commentators, Biographical and Bibliographical Notices &c., &c”, p.126

A person is bound to lose when he talks about himself; if he belittles himself, he is believed; if he praises himself, he isn't believed.

Michel de Montaigne
Bragging, Praise, Belittle

He who fears he will suffer, already suffers from his fear.

Michel de Montaigne
Wisdom, Powerful, Emotional
Michel de Montaigne (1958). “Complete Essays”, p.840, Stanford University Press

Love to his soul gave eyes; he knew things are not as they seem. The dream is his real life; the world around him is the dream.

Michel de Montaigne
Dream, Real, Eye
Attributed to "Essais" by Michel de Montaigne, 1595.

It is a human tendency "to measure truth and error by our capacity."

Michel de Montaigne
Reality, Errors, Capacity

I am afraid that our eyes are bigger than our stomachs, and that we have more curiosity than understanding. We grasp at everything, but catch nothing except wind.

Michel de Montaigne
Eye, Wind, Understanding
Michel de Montaigne (1958). “Essays”

So it is with minds. Unless you keep them busy with some definite subject that will bridle and control them, they throw themselves in disorder hither and yon in the vague field of imagination... And there is no mad or idle fancy that they do not bring forth in the agitation.

Michel de Montaigne
Mad, Imagination, Mind
Michel de Montaigne (1958). “Complete Essays”, p.21, Stanford University Press

Presumption is our natural and original malady. The most vulnerable and frail of all creatures is man, and at the same time the most arrogant.

Michel de Montaigne
Men, Self, Arrogance
Michel de Montaigne (1973). “Selections from the Essays”, Harlan Davidson

What enriches language is its being handled and exploited by beautiful minds-not so much by making innovations as by expanding it through more vigorous and varied applications, by extending it and deploying it. It is not words that they contribute: what they do is enrich their words, deepen their meanings and tie down their usage; they teach it unaccustomed rhythms, prudently though and with ingenuity.

Michel de Montaigne
Beautiful, Book, Ties

There is a certain amount of purpose, acquiescence, and satisfaction in nursing one's melancholy.

Michel de Montaigne
Sadness, Nursing, Self
Michel de Montaigne (1946). “The essays”

It is an absolute perfection... to get the very most out of one's individuality.

Michel de Montaigne
Perfection, Individuality, Absolutes

Custom is a violent and treacherous school mistress. She, by little and lithe, slyly and unperceived, slips in the foot of her authority; but having by this gentle and humble beginning, with the benefit of time, fixed and established it, she then unmasks a furious and tyrannic countenance, against which we have no more the courage or the power so much as to lift up our eyes.

Michel de Montaigne
Humble, School, Eye

I will follow the right side even to the fire, but excluding the fire if I can.

Michel de Montaigne
Integrity, Fire, Sides
Michel de Montaigne (2013). “Michel de Montaigne: Selected Essays”, p.161, Courier Corporation

Of the opinions of philosophy I most gladly embrace those that are most solid, that is to say, most human and most our own; my opinions, in conformity with my conduct, are low and humble.

Michel de Montaigne
Philosophy, Philosophical, Humble
Michel de Montaigne (1958). “Complete Essays”, p.855, Stanford University Press

I would have every man write what he knows and no more.

Michel de Montaigne
Writing, Men, Knows
Michel de Montaigne (2014). “Shakespeare's Montaigne: The Florio Translation of the Essays, A Selection”, p.59, New York Review of Books

Whatever the Benefits of Fortune are , they yet require a Palate fit to relish and taste them; 'Tis Fruition, and not Possession, that renders us Happy.

Michel de Montaigne
Appreciation, Benefits, Taste
"Essays of Michael Seigneur de Montaigne".

Some men seem remarkable to the world in whom neither their wives nor their valets saw anything extraordinary. Few men have been admired by their servants.

Michel de Montaigne
Men, Wife, World

We perceive no charms that are not sharpened, puffed out, and inflated by artifice. Those which glide along naturally and simply easily escape a sight so gross as ours.

Michel de Montaigne
Sight, Human Nature, Charm
Michel de Montaigne (1976). “The Complete Essays of Montaigne”

We only labor to stuff the memory, and leave the conscience and the understanding unfurnished and void.

Michel de Montaigne
Education, Memories, Understanding
Michel de Montaigne (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Michel de Montaigne (Illustrated)”, p.333, Delphi Classics

.. since it was true that study, even when done properly, can only teach us what wisdom, right conduct and determination consist in, they wanted to put their children directly in touch with actual cases, teaching them not by hearsay but by actively assaying them, vigorously molding and forming them not merely by word and precept but chiefly by deeds and examples, so that wisdom should not be something which the soul knows but the soul's very essence and temperament, not something acquired but a natural property.

Michel de Montaigne
Determination, Children, Educational
Michel de Montaigne (1991). “The essays of Michel de Montaigne”, Lane, Allen

My errors are by now natural and incorrigible; but the good that worthy men do the public by making themselves imitable, I shall perhaps do by making myself evitable.

Michel de Montaigne
Men, Errors, Imitation
Michel de Montaigne (1980). “Essays”

It would be better to have no laws at all, than to have too many.

Michel de Montaigne
Inspirational, Motivational, Law

Now, since everything else is furnished with the exact amount of needle and thread required to maintain its being, it is in truth incredible that we alone should be brought into the world in a defective and indigent state, in a state such that we cannot maintain ourselves without external aid.

Michel de Montaigne
World, Incredibles, Aids
Michel de Montaigne (1965). “Complete Essays”, p.166, Stanford University Press

When I dance, I dance; when I sleep, I sleep; yes, and when I walk alone in a beautiful orchard, if my thoughts drift to far-off matters for some part of the time for some other part I lead them back again to the walk, the orchard, to the sweetness of this solitude, to myself.

Michel de Montaigne
Beautiful, Sleep, Simplicity

After mature deliberation of counsel, the good Queen to establish a rule and immutable example unto all posterity, for the moderation and required modesty in a lawful marriage, ordained the number of six times a day as a lawful, necessary and competent limit.

Michel de Montaigne
Sex, Queens, Numbers

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