Michel de Montaigne quotes:

Even from their infancy we frame them to the sports of love: their instruction, behavior, attire, grace, learning and all their words azimuth only at love, respects only affection. Their nurses and their keepers imprint no other thing in them.

A good marriage would be between a blind wife and a deaf husband.

Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul.

Once conform, once do what others do because they do it, and a kind of lethargy steals over all the finer senses of the soul.

It is a sign of contraction of the mind when it is content, or of weariness. A spirited mind never stops within itself; it is always aspiring and going beyond its strength.

Stubborn and ardent clinging to one's opinion is the best proof of stupidity.

Lend yourself to others, but give yourself to yourself.

The soul which has no fixed purpose in life is lost; to be everywhere, is to be nowhere.

In true education, anything that comes to our hand is as good as a book: the prank of a page- boy, the blunder of a servant, a bit of table talk - they are all part of the curriculum.

No pleasure has any savor for me without communication.

Covetousness is both the beginning and the end of the devil's alphabet - the first vice in corrupt nature that moves, and the last which dies.

Tis the sharpness of our mind that gives the edge to our pains and pleasures.

A straight oar looks bent in the water. What matters is not merely that we see things but how we see them.

No wind serves him who addresses his voyage to no certain port.

There is no conversation more boring than the one where everybody agrees.

Those who have compared our life to a dream were right... we were sleeping wake, and waking sleep.

Make your educational laws strict and your criminal ones can be gentle; but if you leave youth its liberty you will have to dig dungeons for ages.

Every one rushes elsewhere and into the future, because no one wants to face one's own inner self.

There is no pleasure to me without communication: there is not so much as a sprightly thought comes into my mind that it does not grieve me to have produced alone, and that I have no one to tell it to.

It should be noted that children at play are not playing about; their games should be seen as their most serious-minded activity.

Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside equally desperate to get out.

A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears.

If there is such a thing as a good marriage, it is because it resembles friendship rather than love.

I set forth a humble and inglorious life; that does not matter. You can tie up all moral philosophy with a common and private life just as well as with a life of richer stuff. Each man bears the entire form of man's estate.

Let us not be ashamed to speak what we shame not to think.

For truly it is to be noted, that children's plays are not sports, and should be deemed as their most serious actions.

The confidence in another man's virtue is no light evidence of a man's own, and God willingly favors such a confidence.

I study myself more than any other subject. That is my metaphysics, that is my physics.

Fortune, seeing that she could not make fools wise, has made them lucky.

One may be humble out of pride.

It is the mind that maketh good or ill, That maketh wretch or happy, rich or poor.

I do not speak the minds of others except to speak my own mind better.

The beautiful souls are they that are universal, open, and ready for all things.

If a man should importune me to give a reason why I loved him, I find it could no otherwise be expressed, than by making answer: because it was he, because it was I.

The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them... Whether you find satisfaction in life depends not on your tale of years, but on your will.

There is little less trouble in governing a private family than a whole kingdom.

There is no passion so contagious as that of fear.

It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others.

It is an absolute and virtually divine perfection to know how to enjoy our being rightfully.

He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears.

I listen with attention to the judgment of all men;but so far as I can remember,I have followed none but my own.

We need very strong ears to hear ourselves judged frankly, and because there are few who can endure frank criticism without being stung by it, those who venture to criticize us perform a remarkable act of friendship, for to undertake to wound or offend a man for his own good is to have a healthy love for him.

[Marriage] happens as with cages: the birds without despair to get in, and those within despair of getting out.

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

I honor most those to whom I show least honor; and where my soul moves with great alacrity, I forget the proper steps of ceremony.

It is not death, it is dying that alarms me.

When I play with my cat, who knows whether she is not amusing herself with me more than I with her.

The archer who overshoots his mark does no better than he who falls short of it.

He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak.

How many things we held yesterday as articles of faith which today we tell as fables.

If I were of the trade, I should naturalize art as much as they "artialize" nature.

We imagine much more appropriately an artisan on his toilet seat or on his wife than a great president, venerable by his demeanorand his ability. It seems to us that they do not stoop from their lofty thrones even to live.

Such as are in immediate fear of a losing their estates, of banishment, or of slavery, live in perpetual anguish, and lose all appetite and repose; whereas such as are actually poor, slaves, or exiles, ofttimes live as merrily as other folk.

A wise man never loses anything, if he has himself.

In his commerce with men I mean him to include- and that principally- those who live only in the memory of books. By means of history he will frequent those great souls of former years. If you want it to be so, history can be a waste of time; it can also be, if you want it to be so, a study bearing fruit beyond price.

If you want it to be so, history can be a waste of time; it can also be, if you want it to be so, a study bearing fruit beyond price.

Every man bears the whole stamp of the human condition.

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.

Tis well for old age that it is always accompanied with want of perception, ignorance, and a facility of being deceived. For should we see how we are used and would not acquiesce, what would become of us?

We can be knowledgeable with other men's knowledge, but we cannot be wise with other men's wisdom.

Don't discuss yourself, for you are bound to lose; if you belittle yourself, you are believed; if you praise yourself, you are disbelieved.

I am one of those who hold that poetry is never so blithe as in a wanton and irregular subject.

An untempted woman cannot boast of her chastity.

I speak the truth not so much as I would, but as much as I dare, and I dare a little more as I grow older.

I care not so much what I am to others as what I am to myself. I will be rich by myself, and not by borrowing.

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.

There are truths on this side of the Pyrenees which are falsehoods on the other

I want death to find me planting my cabbages.

The world is but a perennial movement. All things in it are in constant motion-the earth, the rocks of the Caucasus, the pyramids of Egypt-both with the common motion and with their own.

The worthiest man to be known, and for a pattern to be presented to the world, he is the man of whom we have most certain knowledge. He hath been declared and enlightened by the most clear-seeing men that ever were; the testimonies we have of him are in faithfulness and sufficiency most admirable.

What harm cause not those huge draughts or pictures which wanton youth with chalk or coals draw in each passage, wall or stairs of our great houses, whence a cruel contempt of our natural store is bred in them?

The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness.

I have often seen people uncivil by too much civility, and tiresome in their courtesy.

The souls of emperors and cobblers are cast in the same mold. The same reason that makes us wrangle with a neighbor creates a war betwixt princes.

The souls of emperors and cobblers are cast in the same mould

The relish of good and evil depends in a great measure upon the opinion we have of them.

How many condemnations I have witnessed more criminal than the crime!

Confidence in others' honesty is no light testimony of one's own integrity.

No one but yourself knows whether you are cowardly and cruel, or loyal and devout; others do not see you; they surmise you by uncertain conjectures; they perceive not so much your nature as your art.

Obstinacy is the sister of constancy, at least in vigor and stability.

I am much afraid that we shall have very greatly hastened the decline and ruin of the New World by our contagion, and that we willhave sold it our opinions and our arts very dear.

I write to keep from going mad from the contradictions I find among mankind - and to work some of those contradictions out for myself.

We easily enough confess in others an advantage of courage, strength, experience, activity, and beauty; but an advantage in judgment we yield to none.

The daughter-in-law of Pythagoras said that a woman who goes to bed with a man ought to lay aside her modesty with her skirt, and put it on again with her petticoat

It is an injustice that an old, broken, half-dead father should enjoy alone, in a corner of his hearth, possessions that would suffice for the advancement and maintenance of many children.

I enter into discussion and argument with great freedom and ease, inasmuch as opinion finds me in a bad soil to penetrate and take deep root in. No propositions astonish me, no belief offends me, whatever contrast it offers to my own. There is no fancy so frivolous and so extravagant that it does not seem to me quite suitable to the production of the human mind.

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.

To how many blockheads of my time has a cold and taciturn demeanor procured the credit of prudence and capacity!

Of all our infirmities, the most savage is to despise our being.

The art of dining well is no slight art, the pleasure no slight pleasure.

There never were, in the world, two opinions alike, no more than two hairs, or two grains; the most universal quality is diversity.

No man divulges his revenue, or at least which way it comes in: but every one publishes his acquisitions.

Socrates and then Archesilaus used to make their pupils speak first; they spoke afterwards. 'Obest plerumque iss discere volunt authoritas eorum qui docent.' [For those who want to learn, the obstacle can often be the authority of those who teach]

There is a sort of gratification in doing good which makes us rejoice in ourselves.

I put forward formless and unresolved notions, as do those who publish doubtful questions to debate in the schools, not to establish the truth but to seek it.

I prefer the company of peasants because they have not been educated sufficiently to reason incorrectly.

Marriage, a market which has nothing free but the entrance.

Is it not a noble farce, where kings, republics, and emperors have for so many ages played their parts, and to which the whole vast universe serves for a theatre?

I know well what I am fleeing from but not what I am in search of.

Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it.

Obsession is the wellspring of genius and madness.

We are Christians by the same title as we are natives of Perigord or Germany.

When I am attached by gloomy thoughts, nothing helps me so much as running to my books. They quickly absorb me and banish the clouds from my mind.

Unless a man feels he has a good enough memory, he should never venture to lie.

The only good histories are those written by those who had command in the events they describe.

The only good histories are those that have been written by the persons themselves who commanded in the affairs whereof they write.

Books are pleasant, but if by being over-studious we impair our health and spoil our good humour, two of the best things we have, let us give it over. I, for my part, am one of those who think no fruit derived from them can recompense so great a loss.

Any time and any place can be used to study: his room, a garden, is table, his bed; when alone or in company; morning and evening. His chief study will be Philosophy, that Former of good judgement and character who is privileged to be concerned with everything.

The most useful and honorable science and occupation for a woman is the science of housekeeping. I know some that are miserly, very few that are good managers.

I was not long since in a company where I was not who of my fraternity brought news of a kind of pills, by true account, composed of a hundred and odd several ingredients; whereat we laughed very heartily, and made ourselves good sport; for what rock so hard were able to resist the shock or withstand the force of so thick and numerous a battery?

But as Nature is the best guide, teaching must be the development of natural inclinations, for which purpose the teacher must watch his pupil and listen to him, not continually bawl words into his ears as if pouring water into a funnel. Good teaching will come from a mind well made rather than well filled.

The greater part of the world's troubles are due to questions of grammar.

Great authors, when they write about causes, adduce not only those they think are true but also those they do not believe in, provided they have some originality and beauty. They speak truly and usefully enough if they speak ingeniously.

As great enmities spring from great friendships, and mortal distempers from vigorous health, so do the most surprising and the wildest frenzies from the high and lively agitations of our souls.

To compose our character is our duty, not to compose books, and to win, not battles and provinces, but order and tranquility in our conduct. Our great and glorious masterpiece is to live appropriately. All other things, ruling, hoarding, building, are only little appendages and props, at most.

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.

On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.

If atoms do, by chance, happen to combine themselves into so many shapes, why have they never combined together to form a house or a slipper? By the same token, why do we not believe that if innumerable letters of the Greek alphabet were poured all over the market-place they would eventually happen to form the text of the Iliad?

Experience has taught me this, that we undo ourselves by impatience. Misfortunes have their life and their limits, their sickness and their health.

Adrian, the Emperor, exclaimed incessantly, when dying, "That the crowd of physicians had killed him.