Michel de Montaigne Quotes

Author Image

Michel de Montaigne

Profession : Philosopher

Birth : February 28, 1533

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

Michel de Montaigne

The strangest, most generous, and proudest of all virtues is true courage.

Michel de Montaigne

Let us permit nature to have her way. She understands her business better than we do.

Michel de Montaigne

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

Michel de Montaigne

The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness.

Michel de Montaigne

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

Michel de Montaigne

There is no desire more natural than the desire for knowledge.

Michel de Montaigne

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

Michel de Montaigne

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

Michel de Montaigne

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

Michel de Montaigne

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

Michel de Montaigne

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

Michel de Montaigne

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

Michel de Montaigne

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.

Michel de Montaigne

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

Michel de Montaigne

The ceaseless labour of your life is to build the house of death.

Michel de Montaigne

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

Michel de Montaigne

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

Michel de Montaigne

There are some defeats more triumphant than victories.

Michel de Montaigne

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.

Michel de Montaigne