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495 Powerful Michel de Montaigne Quotes to Inspire You

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1. “Lucius Arruntius killed himself, he said, to escape both the future and the past.”

Michel de Montaigne

Suicide, Time, Escape, Human Condition, Philosophy

2. “Speech belongs half to the speaker, half to the listener. The latter must prepare to receive it according to the motion it takes.”

Michel de Montaigne

Communication, Understanding, Responsibility, Wisdom, Human Interaction

3. “No doctor takes pleasure in the health even of his friends.”

Michel de Montaigne

Profession, Friendship, Human Nature, Irony, Health

4. “It is a thorny undertaking, and more so than it seems, to follow a movement so wandering as that of our mind, to penetrate the opaque depths of its innermost folds, to pick out and immobilize the innumerable flutterings that agitate it.”

Michel de Montaigne

Mind, Introspection, Complexity, Self-awareness, Philosophy

5. “No two men ever judged alike of the same thing, and it is impossible to find two opinions exactly similar, not only in different men but in the same men at different times.”

Michel de Montaigne

Opinion, Judgment, Individuality, Change, Human Nature

6. “We are, I know not how, double in ourselves, so that what we believe we disbelieve, and cannot rid ourselves of what we condemn.”

Michel de Montaigne

Human Nature, Contradiction, Belief, Self-awareness, Psychology

7. “Off I go, rummaging about in books for sayings which please me.”

Michel de Montaigne

Reading, Pleasure, Wisdom, Learning, Self-education

8. “Long life, and short, are by death made all one; for there is no long, nor short, to things that are no more.”

Michel de Montaigne

Death, Time, Perspective, Mortality, Philosophy

9. “Lay a beam between these two towers of such width as we need to walk on: there is no philosophical wisdom of such great firmness that it can give us courage to walk on it as we should if it were on the ground.”

Michel de Montaigne

Courage, Wisdom, Human Nature, Fear, Perspective

10. “If I can, I shall keep my death from saying anything that my life has not already said.”

Michel de Montaigne

Death, Life, Consistency, Integrity, Wisdom

11. “Happiness involves working toward meaningful goals.”

Michel de Montaigne

Happiness, Purpose, Goals, Motivation, Life Philosophy

12. “To die is not to play a part in society; it is the act of a single person. Let us live and laugh among our friends; let us die and sulk among strangers.”

Michel de Montaigne

Death, Individuality, Friendship, Society, Human Nature

13. “Why do people respect the package rather than the man?”

Michel de Montaigne

Appearance, Substance, Human Nature, Critique, Values

14. “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

Life, Morality, Choice, Responsibility, Philosophy

15. “Even from their infancy we frame them to the sports of love: their instruction, behavior, attire, grace, learning and all their words azimuth only at love, respects only affection. Their nurses and their keepers imprint no other thing in them.”

Michel de Montaigne

Love, Education, Childhood, Society, Human Nature

16. “Our zeal works wonders, whenever it supports our inclination toward hatred, cruelty, ambition.”

Michel de Montaigne

Motivation, Human Nature, Negative Traits, Self-awareness, Psychology

17. “I find no quality so easy for a man to counterfeit as devotion, though his life and manner are not conformable to it; the essence of it is abstruse and occult, but the appearances easy and showy.”

Michel de Montaigne

Hypocrisy, Devotion, Appearance, Reality, Human Nature

18. “If I am to serve as an instrument of deceit, at least let it be with a clear conscience. I do not want to be considered either so affectionate or so loyal a servant as to be found fit to betray anyone.”

Michel de Montaigne

Honesty, Loyalty, Conscience, Integrity, Human Nature

19. “He who falls obstinate in his courage, if he falls he fights from his knees.”

Michel de Montaigne

Courage, Perseverance, Determination, Human Spirit, Resilience

20. “Lend yourself to others, but give yourself to yourself.”

Michel de Montaigne

Self-care, Relationships, Balance, Wisdom, Individuality

21. “Our religion is made to eradicate vices, instead it encourages them, covers them, and nurtures them.”

Michel de Montaigne

Religion, Vice, Hypocrisy, Human Nature, Critique

22. “Aesop, that great man, saw his master making water as he walked. "What!" he said, "Must we void ourselves as we run?" Use our time as best we may, yet a great part of it will still be idly and ill spent.”

Michel de Montaigne

Time Management, Wisdom, Human Nature, Efficiency, Critique