Michel De Montaigne Quotes

The greatest thing in the world is to know how to be one's own self

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.

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

Not being able to govern events I govern myself.

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.

When I religiously confess myself to myself I find that the best virtue I have has in it some tincture of vice.

A wise man sees as much as he ought not as much as he can.

The word is half his that speaks and half his that hears it.

My life has been full of terrible misfortunes most of which never happened.

I walk firmer and more secure up hill than down.

I quote others in order to better express my own self.

Difficulty is a coin which the learned conjure with so as not to reveal the vanity of their studies and which human stupidity is keen to accept in payment

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

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

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

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.

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.