Here comes Montaigne, an honest man. Sayings, aphorisms and quotes by Michel de Montaigne

French writer, Renaissance thinker, philosopher, author of the book “Experiences” - Michel Equem de Montaigne was born on February 28, 1533 in the southwest of France, in the rich family castle of Montaigne, owned by his father.

Father - Pierre Ekem, a participant in the Italian Wars, was at one time the mayor of Bordeaux, mother - Antoinette de Lopez - from a family of wealthy Aragonese Jews.

Little Michel's education began at the age of two. For upbringing, my father used his own liberal pedagogical methodology. His teacher, a German, had absolutely no command French and spoke to Michel exclusively in Latin. Moreover, his father and mother also spoke to him only in Latin, so from childhood Montaigne mastered Latin as his native language.

His father sought to instill in Michel a love of science; when the boy was six years old, he sent him to college in Bordeaux. After graduating from college, he became a lawyer.

In his youth, Michel Montaigne was keenly interested political activity. His father acquired for him the position of adviser to the Bordeaux parliament. Montaigne enjoyed a reputation as an educated, learned man, many statesmen, the thinkers of that time were his good friends.

In 1565 Montaigne married, receiving a substantial dowry that strengthened him financial situation. When his father died in 1568, Michel became the heir to the family estate. He sold his judicial position, retired and from 1571 settled in the castle.

In 1572, 38-year-old Montaigne began work on the main work in his creative biography– philosophical and literary “Experiments”, in which he expressed his thoughts on historical events days past and today.

As Montaigne wrote: “...tired of his servile stay at court and public duties...decided to hide in the arms of the muses, the patroness of wisdom.” As a result, in 1580 the first two books of his Essays were published - a work that brought Montaigne widespread fame during his lifetime, and subsequently, world fame. For many centuries this book will be one of the favorites of the reading public.

In 1580-1581 the writer traveled through Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Italy. Impressions from this journey are reflected in his diary.

At the same time, Montaigne's social activity. The heir to the throne, Henry of Navarre, showed favor towards Montaigne, but all his thoughts were devoted to the “Experiments”; he tried to spend as much time as possible in solitude.

However, Montaigne's wishes were not destined to come true. In 1581 he was elected mayor of the city of Bordeaux. Apparently, this was during the journey of 1580-1581. (“The citizens of Bordeaux elected me mayor of their city when I was far from France and even further from the thought of it”).

In 1586–1587 Montaigne, free from mayoral duties, continued literary studies and wrote additions to the first books and the third book of “Experiments,” which were largely autobiographical in nature.

In 1588 Montaigne met a young girl, Marie de Gournay, who was a passionate admirer of his ideas. Marie brightened up Montaigne's loneliness and became for him something like adopted daughter. After the death of her idol, she published posthumous edition“Experiments”, on which he continued to work until his last breath.

Michel de Montaigne died on September 13, 1592 from an exacerbation of the stone disease that had long tormented him in his ancestral castle.

The scourge of man is imaginary knowledge.

Prudence is also characterized by extremes, and it needs moderation no less than frivolity.

Let us beware that old age does not put more wrinkles on our soul than on our face.

In friendship there are no calculations or considerations other than itself.

Taking a city by storm, sending an embassy, reigning over the people - all these are brilliant deeds. Laughing, loving and gentle with your family, without contradicting yourself - this is something rarer, more complex and less noticeable to others.

It is not at all necessary to always say exactly what you think, that would be stupid, but whatever you say must correspond to your thoughts; otherwise it is a malicious deception.

There is nothing useless in nature.

A doctor, when starting to treat his patient for the first time, should do it gracefully, cheerfully and with pleasure for the patient; and a gloomy doctor will never succeed in his craft.

All means - provided that they are dishonest - that can protect us from disasters and troubles are not only permissible, but also deserve all praise.

Arrogance consists of thinking too highly of oneself and too low of others.

It is the act that is worthy of praise, not the person himself.

Other vices dull the mind, but drunkenness destroys it.

If lies, like truth, had one face, our situation would be much easier. We would then consider the opposite of what the liar says to be reliable. But the opposite of truth has a hundred thousand guises and has no limits.

If a person only wanted to be happy, then it would be easy, but everyone wants to be happier than others, and this is almost always very difficult, because we usually consider others happier than they really are.

If we can be learned by the learning of others, then we can only be wise by our own wisdom.

If I lie, I insult myself more than the person I lied about.

Getting married without committing yourself to anything is a betrayal.

Life in itself is neither good nor evil: it is a container of both good and evil, depending on what you yourself have turned it into.

Knowledge is a double-edged weapon that only burdens and can injure its owner if the hand that holds it is weak and does not know how to use it well.

Dealing with people who admire us and are inferior to us in everything is a very insipid pleasure and even harmful for us...

True dignity is like a river: the deeper it is, the less noise it makes.

True friends are those who have “one soul in two bodies.”

True scholars are like ears of corn in a field. While the ear is empty, it grows cheerfully and proudly raises its head; but when he swells, fills with grain and ripens, he becomes humble and lowers his head.

Book learning is an ornament, not a foundation.

When judging an individual act, then before evaluating it, one must take into account various circumstances and take into account the entire appearance of the person who committed it.

When you do good, you yourself experience a certain joyful satisfaction and legitimate pride, accompanying a clear conscience.

When the philosopher needed money, he did not say that he would borrow it from his friends; he said that he would ask his friends to repay him.

He who fears suffering is already suffering from fear.

Anyone who is infected with the fear of illness is already infected with the disease of fear.

Whoever obliges himself to say everything without concealment will also oblige himself not to do what he needs to remain silent about.

Those who are very lean willingly wear a sweatshirt, those who have little substance - they inflate it with words.

He who teaches people to die teaches them to live.

Deceit is the most vile vice.

Love is a frantic attraction to that which runs away from us.

It is given to ordinary people to ripen the fruits of their deeds; the seeds scattered by geniuses germinate slowly.

The measure of life is not how long it lasts, but how you use it.

I don't know of any marriages that would break up with greater ease or would be associated with greater difficulties than those imprisoned because of a passion for beauty or because of love.

A well-constructed brain is worth more than a well-filled brain.

You can also learn from the enemy.

Silence and modesty are qualities that are very suitable for conversation.

We cannot think of a better praise for a person than to say that he is gifted by nature.

We do not so much free ourselves from our vices as exchange them for others.

You have to study a lot to realize that you know little.

...We must try to find out - not who knows more, but who knows better.

You must be able to endure what cannot be avoided.

The worst state of a person is when he ceases to be aware and control himself.

A true friend is someone whom I would trust in everything concerning me more than myself.

Science is a great decoration and a very useful tool...

Science is a very difficult matter. Science is only suitable for strong minds.

Our wit seems to be more quick and sudden, while our mind is more thorough and slow.

It is not without reason that they say that those who do not really rely on their memory find it difficult to lie well.

Ignorance is of two kinds: one - illiterate, precedes knowledge; the other, swaggering, follows him.

It is impossible to have an honest and sincere argument with a fool.

Not everything that fluctuates falls.

It is not enough for education not to spoil us, it is necessary for it to change us for the better.

I can’t imagine how anyone can be content with knowledge acquired second-hand; Although the knowledge of others can teach us something, you can only be wise by your own wisdom.

Often vice itself pushes us to do good deeds.

There is no answer more humiliating than contemptuous silence.

...There is no old man so decrepit that, remembering Methuselah, he would not expect to live another twenty years.

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

To strictly follow your inclinations and to be at their mercy means to be a slave to yourself.

The dishonest means by which many rise to the top make it clear that the ends are not worth a good word either.

No passion clouds the clarity of judgment to such an extent as anger.

Neither what precedes death nor what follows it belongs to it.

Accusations against oneself are always believed, self-praise is never believed.

Frank speech, like wine and love, evokes the same frankness.

The same number of vices come from a lack of self-respect as from excessive self-respect.

I have seen many people in my time who were driven to complete stupidity by an immoderate thirst for knowledge.

It is very useful to sharpen and polish your mind on the minds of others.

The first sign of corruption of social morals is the disappearance of truth, for truthfulness lies at the basis of all virtue.

Crying because we won't be alive a hundred years from now is just as crazy as crying because we weren't alive a hundred years ago.

Truly intelligent learning changes both our minds and our morals.

The true mirror of our way of thinking is our life.

The concept of virtue implies difficulty and struggle; virtue cannot exist without opposition.

Blaming your own shortcomings in others is just as acceptable as blaming others’ shortcomings in yourself.

After those persons who occupy the highest positions, I do not know anyone more unhappy than those who envy them.

You would rather have blood rush to a person's cheeks than have it be shed by him.

Nature can do everything and creates everything.

Nature is a pleasant mentor, and not so much pleasant as cautious and faithful.

There is no end to our inquisitiveness; contentment of the mind is a sign of its limitations or fatigue.

If we hate something, it means we take it to heart.

A reasonable person sets limits for himself even in good deeds.

The deepest friendship gives rise to the most bitter enmity.

...The most important thing is to instill taste and love for science; otherwise we will raise just donkeys loaded with bookish wisdom.

The most outstanding talents are ruined by idleness.

Most shortcut to gain glory is to do, prompted by conscience, what we do for the sake of glory.

The best proof of wisdom is continuous good location spirit.

The same thing happens to truly learned people as with ears of wheat: while they are empty, they raise their heads proudly and high, but when they become full and full of grains, they begin to hang their heads in humiliation.

There should be measures of influence established by law that would curb mediocre and worthless scribblers, as is done in relation to loiterers and parasites.

It is necessary to distinguish a person’s spiritual impulse from a firm and constant habit.

The word belongs half to the one who speaks and half to the one who listens.

A courageous act should not necessarily presuppose valor in the person who committed it; for he who is truly valiant will be so always and under all circumstances.

Death should be the same as life; we don't become different just because we die.

Among other sins, drunkenness seems to me to be a particularly gross and base vice.

Among the thousands of our usual actions, we will not find a single one that we would do directly for our own sake.

Old people should not think about death: let them better worry about how to better loosen the beds in the garden.

Old age leaves more wrinkles on our mental appearance than on our face.

Fear either gives wings to your legs or chains them to the ground.

Shyness adorns a young man and stains an old man.

One must judge a person based mainly on his everyday actions, observing his daily existence.

Human happiness does not consist at all in dying well, but, in my opinion, in living well.

Those who claim that they have a lot of thoughts in their heads, but cannot express them due to lack of eloquence, have not learned to understand themselves.

Only fools can be unshakable in their confidence.

To those who have not comprehended the science of good, any other science brings only harm.

To the one who said to Socrates: “Thirty tyrants condemned you to death,” the latter replied: “And nature condemned them to death.”

The fact that we see so few successful marriages is a testament to the value and importance of marriage.

Cowardice is the mother of cruelty.

Doubling yourself is a great miracle, and its greatness is inaccessible to those who claim to be able to triple themselves.

Animals have that noble peculiarity that a lion never, out of cowardice, becomes the slave of another lion, and a horse never becomes the slave of another horse.

A mind that has no definite purpose is lost; to be everywhere is to be nowhere.

Stubbornness and excessive ardor in an argument are the surest sign of stupidity.

Whether life events are good or bad largely depends on how we perceive them.

The worth and dignity of a man lies in his heart and in his will; it is here that the basis of his true honor lies.

It takes more intelligence to teach another than to learn yourself.

What could be more difficult than protecting yourself from an enemy who has taken on the guise of our most devoted friend.

I speak the truth insofar as I dare to speak it; The older I get, I dare to do this less and less.

I have observed only one effect of the rod - it either dulls or embitters the soul.

I have often met people who turned out to be discourteous precisely because they were too polite, and obnoxious because they were too polite.

I would like death to find me working in the field.

People believe nothing so firmly as what they know least about, and no one speaks with such self-confidence as the writers of all sorts of fables - for example, alchemists, astrologers, fortune tellers, palmists...

Books accompany me throughout my entire life. life path, and I communicate with them always and everywhere. They console me in my old years and in my solitary existence. They relieve me of the burden of tiresome idleness and at any hour give me the opportunity to get rid of unpleasant company. They soften attacks of physical pain if it does not reach extreme limits and does not subjugate everything else.

If, on the one hand, our mind grows stronger as a result of contact with vast and developed minds, then, on the other hand, it is impossible to imagine how much it loses and degenerates as a result of constant acquaintance and intercourse with base and painful minds.

I condemn all violence in the education of a young soul who is raised to respect honor and freedom. There is something slavish in severity and compulsion, and I find that what cannot be done by reason, prudence and skill cannot be achieved by force.

Do not worry that you will not be able to die: nature itself, when the time comes, will teach you this quite thoroughly; she will do everything for you, don’t occupy your thoughts with this...

When I play with a cat, it is not known who amuses whom more.

The best way to remember something is to try to forget it.

Michel de Montaigne (28 February 1533 - 13 September 1592) French thinker, writer, philosopher

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In this church (St. John Lateran, San Giovanni in Laterano) several years ago a large group of Portuguese united in a strange brotherhood. They married each other. Man to man, with all the ceremonies that we follow during our weddings; They celebrate Easter together, have the same wedding mass, and then sleep and live together. The Roman sages say that if only marriage makes the connection between a man and a woman legal, then it seemed to these cunning men that this connection would also be legal if it was confirmed by church sacraments and ceremony.

Of all the illusory aspirations of our world, the most common and widespread is the concern for our good name and glory. In pursuit of this ghostly shadow, this empty sound, intangible and ethereal, we sacrifice wealth, peace, life, and health - real and essential blessings... Of all the unreasonable human inclinations, this seems to be the one from which even philosophers give up last of all and with the greatest reluctance. Of all of them, she is the most ineradicable and stubborn.

Books accompany me throughout my entire life’s journey, and I communicate with them always and everywhere. They console me in my old years and in my solitary existence. They relieve me of the burden of tiresome idleness and at any hour give me the opportunity to get rid of unpleasant company. They soften attacks of physical pain if it does not reach extreme limits and does not subjugate everything else.

Let the teacher ask the student not only the words of the learned lesson, but also the meaning and very essence of it, and judge the benefit he brought not by the testimony of his pupil’s memory, but by his life. And let, when explaining something to a student, he will show it to him from a hundred different sides and apply to the set various items to check whether the student has understood properly and to what extent he has mastered it.

Our bodies are characterized by more or less the same build and the same inclinations. Our soul is infinitely changeable and takes on the most diverse forms, while possessing the ability to adapt to itself and to its state the sensations of our body and all its other manifestations.

There is every reason to assert that ignorance is of two kinds: one, illiterate, precedes science; the other, arrogant, follows her. This second type of ignorance is created and generated by science in the same way as the first is destroyed and destroyed by it.

A successful marriage rejects love; he tries to compensate her with friendship. This is nothing less than a pleasant lifelong life together, full of stability, trust and an infinite number of very tangible mutual services and responsibilities.

No one voluntarily gives away his property, but everyone, without hesitation, shares his time with his neighbor. We throw nothing so willingly as own time, although it is only in relation to the latter that frugality would be useful and worthy of praise.

To think about death is to think about freedom. He who has learned to die has forgotten how to be a slave. The willingness to die frees us from all submission and coercion. And there is no evil in life for someone who has realized that losing life is not evil.

The extreme degree of fear is expressed in the fact that, succumbing to it, we are even imbued with the very courage that he deprived us of at the moment when it was necessary to fulfill our duty and defend our honor. This is what I fear more than fear itself.

Biography

Famous French writer and Renaissance philosopher, author of Essays. Montaigne was born in a family castle near Bordeaux. His father, a participant in the Italian wars Pierre Eyckem (who received the aristocratic title “de Montaigne”) was at one time the mayor of this city; died in 1568.
Mother - Antoinette de Lopez, from a family of wealthy Aragonese Jews. IN early childhood Michel was brought up according to his father's liberal-humanistic pedagogical methods - his teacher, a German, did not speak French at all and spoke to Michel exclusively in Latin. During the Huguenot Wars, Montaigne often acted as a mediator between the warring parties; he was equally respected by the Catholic King Henry III and the Protestant Henry of Navarre.
In 1565 Montaigne married, receiving a substantial dowry. After his father's death in 1568, he inherited family estate Montaigne, where he settled in 1571, selling his judicial position and retiring. In 1572, at the age of 38, Montaigne began writing his Essays (the first two books were published in 1580). His close friend was the philosopher Etienne de la Boesie, the author of Discourses on Voluntary Slavery, some parts of which Montaigne included in his Essays.
In 1580-1581 the writer traveled through Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Italy. Impressions from this journey are reflected in a diary published only in 1774. The writer died on September 13, 1592 during mass.

More about the name Mikhail

Aphorisms

There is no old man so decrepit that, remembering Methuselah, he would not expect to live another twenty years.

The most important thing is to instill taste and love for science; otherwise we will raise just donkeys loaded with bookish wisdom.

There is nothing useless in nature.

A doctor, when starting to treat his patient for the first time, should do it gracefully, cheerfully and with pleasure for the patient; and a gloomy doctor will never succeed in his craft.

All means - provided that they are not dishonest - that can protect us from disasters and troubles are not only permissible, but also deserve all praise.

Life in itself is neither good nor evil: it is a container of both good and evil, depending on what you yourself have turned it into.

Knowledge does not need to be attached to the soul, it needs to be implanted into it; it does not need to be pointed at her, they need to impregnate her.

Knowledge is a double-edged weapon that only burdens and can injure its owner if the hand that holds it is weak and does not know how to use it well...

When you do good, you yourself experience a certain joyful satisfaction and legitimate pride that accompanies a clear conscience.

He who fears suffering is already suffering from fear.

Anyone who is infected with the fear of illness is already infected with the disease of fear.

Those who are very lean willingly wear a sweatshirt, those who have little substance - they inflate it with words.

Deceit is the most vile vice.

The measure of life is not how long it lasts, but how you use it.

I know of no marriages that would break up more easily or be associated with greater difficulties than those concluded because of a passion for beauty or because of falling in love.

You can also learn from the enemy.

A well-constructed brain is worth more than a well-filled brain.
You must be able to endure what cannot be avoided.

The worst state of a person is when he ceases to be aware and control himself.

A true friend is someone whom I would trust in everything concerning me more than myself. A strong imagination creates an event.

Science is a great decoration and a very useful tool...

Science is a wonderful drug; but no drug is so stable that it can be preserved without being damaged or altered if the vessel in which it is stored is bad.

Science is a very difficult matter. Science is only suitable for strong minds.

Our wit seems to be more characterized by speed and suddenness, while our mind is more thorough and slow.

It is not without reason that they say that those who do not really rely on their memory find it difficult to lie well.

Do not worry that you will not be able to die: nature itself, when the time comes, will teach you this quite thoroughly; she will do everything for you, don’t occupy your thoughts with this...

Not everything that fluctuates falls.

I can’t imagine how anyone can be content with knowledge acquired second-hand; Although the knowledge of others can teach us something, you can only be wise by your own wisdom.

It is impossible to have an honest and sincere argument with a fool.

It is not enough for education not to spoil us, it is necessary for it to change us for the better.

There is no answer more humiliating than contemptuous silence.

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

No passion clouds the clarity of judgment to such an extent as anger.

Neither what precedes death nor what follows it belongs to it.

No one voluntarily gives away his property, but everyone, without hesitation, shares his time with his neighbor. We throw away nothing so willingly as our own time, although it is only in relation to the latter that frugality would be useful and worthy of praise.

Self-accusations are always believed, self-praise is never believed.

Frank speech, like wine and love, evokes the same frankness.

Nature is a pleasant mentor, and not so much pleasant as cautious and faithful.

Nature can do everything and creates everything.

There is no end to our inquisitiveness; contentment of the mind is a sign of its limitations or fatigue.

The most outstanding talents are ruined by idleness.

The shortest path to gaining glory is to do, out of conscience, what we do for the sake of glory.

The best proof of wisdom is a continuous good mood.

There should be measures of influence established by law that would curb mediocre and worthless scribblers, as is done in relation to loiterers and parasites.

Death should be the same as life; we don't become different just because we die.

Among other sins, drunkenness seems to me to be a particularly gross and base vice.

Old people should not think about death: let them better worry about how to better loosen the beds in the garden.

Fear either gives wings to your legs or chains them to the ground.

Human happiness does not consist at all in dying well, but in... to live well.

Those who claim that they have a lot of thoughts in their heads, but cannot express them due to lack of eloquence, have not learned to understand themselves.

To those who have not comprehended the science of good, any other science brings only harm.

To the one who said to Socrates: “Thirty tyrants condemned you to death,” the latter replied: “And nature condemned them to death.”

Cowardice is the mother of cruelty.

Animals have that noble peculiarity that a lion never, out of cowardice, becomes the slave of another lion, and a horse never becomes the slave of another horse.

A mind that has no definite purpose is lost; to be everywhere is to be nowhere.

Stubbornness and excessive ardor in an argument are the surest sign of stupidity.

Whether life events are good or bad largely depends on how we perceive them.

What could be more difficult than protecting yourself from an enemy who has taken on the guise of our most devoted friend.

It takes more intelligence to teach another than to teach yourself.

I speak the truth insofar as I dare to speak it; The older I get, I dare to do this less and less.

I have observed only this effect of the rod - it either dulls or embitters.

I have often met people who turned out to be discourteous precisely because they were too polite, and obnoxious because they were too polite.

I would like death to find me working in the field.

Here comes Montaigne, an honest man. Sayings, aphorisms and quotes by Michel de Montaigne

Biography

Aphorisms

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