Michel de Montaigne Quotes

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Michel de Montaigne

Profession : Philosopher

Birth : February 28, 1533

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

Michel de Montaigne

Lend yourself to others, but give yourself to yourself.

Michel de Montaigne

Nothing is so firmly believed as what we least know.

Michel de Montaigne

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

Michel de Montaigne

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

Michel de Montaigne

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

Michel de Montaigne

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

Michel de Montaigne

I have never seen a greater monster or miracle in the world than myself.

Michel de Montaigne

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

Michel de Montaigne

Ambition is not a vice of little people.

Michel de Montaigne

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

Michel de Montaigne

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

Michel de Montaigne

Age imprints more wrinkles in the mind than it does on the face.

Michel de Montaigne

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.

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.

Michel de Montaigne

An untempted woman cannot boast of her chastity.

Michel de Montaigne

Fame and tranquility can never be bedfellows.

Michel de Montaigne

Every man bears the whole stamp of the human condition.

Michel de Montaigne

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

Michel de Montaigne

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.

Michel de Montaigne