To smell, though well, is to stink.
Michel de Montaigne
Perception, Senses, Paradox, Human Nature, Perspective
Michel de Montaigne’s Quotes On Topics
Hubris | Parenting | Aspiration | Present Moment | Courtesy | Responsibility | Human Emotion | Abundance | Punishment | Correction | Annoyance | Excitement | Profit | Complexity | Self-loathing | Criticism | Suicide | Avoidance | Hope | Human Development | More
More Michel de Montaigne Quotes
“The honor we receive from those that fear us, is not honor; those respects are paid to royalty and not to me.” Michel de Montaigne
Honor, Fear, Respect, Power, Human Nature
Michel de Montaigne Honor, Fear, Respect, Power, Human Nature“Laws are often made by fools, and even more often by men who fail in equity because they hate equality: but always by men, vain authorities who can resolve nothing.” Michel de Montaigne
Law, Foolishness, Equality, Authority, Human Nature
Michel de Montaigne Law, Foolishness, Equality, Authority, Human Nature“Intemperance is the plague of sensuality, and temperance is not its bane but its seasoning.” Michel de Montaigne
Moderation, Pleasure, Virtue, Self-control, Human Nature
Michel de Montaigne Moderation, Pleasure, Virtue, Self-control, Human Nature“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.” Michel de Montaigne
Knowledge, Learning, Vanity, Human Nature, Intellectual Critique
Michel de Montaigne Knowledge, Learning, Vanity, Human Nature, Intellectual Critique“The bitterness of the potion, and the abhorrence of the patient are necessary circumstances to the operation. It must be something to trouble and disturb the stomach that must purge and cure it.” Michel de Montaigne
Healing, Discomfort, Necessity, Medicine, Human Nature
Michel de Montaigne Healing, Discomfort, Necessity, Medicine, Human Nature“Nature has made us a present of a broad capacity for entertaining ourselves apart, and often calls us to do so, to teach us that we owe ourselves in part to society, but in the best part to ourselves.” Michel de Montaigne
Nature, Solitude, Society, Self-reliance, Human Nature
Michel de Montaigne Nature, Solitude, Society, Self-reliance, Human Nature“My reason is not framed to bend or stoop: my knees are.” Michel de Montaigne
Reason, Flexibility, Pride, Human Nature, Metaphor
Michel de Montaigne Reason, Flexibility, Pride, Human Nature, Metaphor“Without doubt, it is a delightful harmony when doing and saying go together.” Michel de Montaigne
Harmony, Action, Words, Integrity, Consistency
Michel de Montaigne Harmony, Action, Words, Integrity, Consistency“This idea is more surely understood by interrogation; WHAT DO I KNOW? which I bear as my motto with the emblem of a pair of scales.” Michel de Montaigne
Knowledge, Questioning, Wisdom, Philosophy, Self-awareness
Michel de Montaigne Knowledge, Questioning, Wisdom, Philosophy, Self-awareness“Experience has taught me this, that we undo ourselves by impatience. Misfortunes have their life and their limits, their sickness and their health.” Michel de Montaigne
Patience, Experience, Misfortune, Wisdom, Human Nature
Michel de Montaigne Patience, Experience, Misfortune, Wisdom, Human Nature“If I were of the trade, I should naturalize art as much as they "artialize" nature.” Michel de Montaigne
Art, Nature, Creativity, Perspective, Human Intervention
Michel de Montaigne Art, Nature, Creativity, Perspective, Human Intervention“An untempted woman cannot boast of her chastity.” Michel de Montaigne
Virtue, Temptation, Morality, Human Nature, Gender
Michel de Montaigne Virtue, Temptation, Morality, Human Nature, Gender“Covetousness is both the beginning and the end of the devil's alphabet – the first vice in corrupt nature that moves, and the last which dies.” Michel de Montaigne
Greed, Vice, Human Nature, Morality, Corruption
Michel de Montaigne Greed, Vice, Human Nature, Morality, Corruption“Diogenes was asked what wine he liked best; and he answered as I would have done when he said, "Somebody else's".” Michel de Montaigne
Humor, Desire, Human Nature, Philosophy, Wit
Michel de Montaigne Humor, Desire, Human Nature, Philosophy, Wit“My errors are by now natural and incorrigible; but the good that worthy men do the public by making themselves imitable, I shall perhaps do by making myself evitable.” Michel de Montaigne
Self-awareness, Influence, Human Nature, Society, Wisdom
Michel de Montaigne Self-awareness, Influence, Human Nature, Society, Wisdom“I love a gay and sociable wisdom, and shun harshness and austerity in behaviour, holding every surly countenance suspect.” Michel de Montaigne
Wisdom, Sociability, Behavior, Judgment, Human Interaction
Michel de Montaigne Wisdom, Sociability, Behavior, Judgment, Human Interaction“We can be knowledgeable with other men's knowledge but we cannot be wise with other men's wisdom.” Michel de Montaigne
Knowledge, Wisdom, Learning, Individuality, Personal Growth
Michel de Montaigne Knowledge, Wisdom, Learning, Individuality, Personal Growth“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
Michel de Montaigne Mind, Introspection, Complexity, Self-awareness, Philosophy