Quotes By Michel De Montaigne

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.

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

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

In nine lifetimes, you'll never know as much about your cat as your cat knows about you.

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

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

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

Every man bears the whole stamp of the human condition.

My trade and art is to live.

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.

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.

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

Few men have been admired of their familiars.

An untempted woman cannot boast of her chastity.

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

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

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

Confidence in the goodness of another is good proof of one's own goodness.

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

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.

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

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

Fame and tranquility can never be bedfellows.

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

Lend yourself to others, but give yourself to yourself.

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.

If you don't know how to die, don't worry; Nature will tell you what to do on the spot, fully and adequately. She will do this job perfectly for you; don't bother your head about it.

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

No pleasure has any savor for me without communication.

If you press me to say why I loved him, I can say no more than because he was he, and I was I.