Michel de Montaigne Quotes - Page 3

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

  Michel de Montaigne

  Cat, Nine, Lifetime

  14 Copy quote

• Men are tormented by the opinions they have of things, and not the things themselves.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Men, Opinion

  9 Copy quote

• We are more unhappy to see people ahead of us than happy to see people behind us.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Sad, People, Unhappy

  Michel de Montaigne (1976). “The Complete Essays of Montaigne”

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• It is not necessity but abundance which produces greed.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Greed, Abundance, Produce

  23 Copy quote

• No-one is exempt from speaking nonsense – the only misfortune is to do it solemnly.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Nonsense, Misfortunes

  12 Copy quote

• Life itself is neither a good nor an evil: life is where good or evil find a place, depending on how you make it for them.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Evil, Words Of Wisdom, Ethics

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

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• The human face is a weak guarantee; yet it deserves some consideration. And if I had to whip the wicked, I would do so more severely to those who belied and betrayed the promises that nature had implanted on their brows; I would punish malice more harshly when it was hidden under a kindly appearance.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Deception, Promise, Wicked

  4 Copy quote

• Wise people are foolish if they cannot adapt to foolish people.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Funny, Wise, Wisdom

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• When I quote others I do so in order to express my own ideas more clearly.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Inspirational, Golf, Order

  Michel de Montaigne (1946). “The essays”

  44 Copy quote

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

  Michel de Montaigne

  Communication, Knowledge, Brain

  Essays Bk 1 (transl. D. M. Frame)

  57 Copy quote

• Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of soul, impossible.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Attitude, Soul, Poverty

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• Love is like playing the piano. First you must learn to play by the rules, then you must forget the rules and play from your heart. If I were pressed to say why I loved him, I feel that my only reply could be: Because it was he, because it was I.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Heart, Love Is, Piano

  37 Copy quote

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

  Michel de Montaigne

  Wise, Being Yourself, Men

  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.129

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• Take care that old age does not wrinkle your spirit even more than your face.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Wrinkles, Age, Doe

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• It is a rare life that remains orderly even in private.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Orderliness, Remains, Orderly

  Michel de Montaigne (1958). “Essays”

  6 Copy quote

• We are all of us richer than we think we are; but we are taught to borrow and to beg, and brought up more to make use of what is another's than of our own.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Thinking, Use, Taught

  Michel de Montaigne (1872). “All the Essays of Michael Seigneur de Montaigne”, p.826

  14 Copy quote

• Honesty is a question of right and wrong, not a matter of policy

  Michel de Montaigne

  Honesty, Matter, Policy

  10 Copy quote

• Fame and tranquility can never be bedfellows.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Quiet, Tranquility, Fame

  'Essais' (1580) bk. 1, ch. 39

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• Sometimes it is a good choice not to choose at all.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Choices, Sometimes, Good Choices

  Michel de Montaigne (1603). “Essayes”

  13 Copy quote

• A man must become wise at his own expense.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Wise, Wisdom, Men

  35 Copy quote

• People of our time are so formed for agitation and ostentation that goodness, moderation, equability, constancy, and such quiet and obscure qualities are no longer felt.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Business, People, Society

  7 Copy quote

• ~The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them ~

  Michel de Montaigne

  Lying, Satisfaction In Life, Use

  'Essais' (1580) bk. 1, ch. 20

  77 Copy quote

• Ignorance is the softest pillow on which a man can rest his head.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Ignorance, Men, Pillow

  12 Copy quote

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

  Michel de Montaigne

  Cute, Soul, Lost Friendship

  48 Copy quote

• Writing does not cause misery. It is born of misery.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Writing, Doe, Causes

  Attributed to "Essais" by Michel de Montaigne, 1595.

  4 Copy quote

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