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170 collected words

Michel de Montaigne

Life dates: 1533 AD — 1592 AD

Name supplied in the contributor-provided quotation collection. Basic attribution label; identity, lifetime and quotation authenticity have not been independently verified.

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Quotations and sayings

01c. 1562 AD

The Ancient Mariner said to Neptune during a great storm 'O God you will save me if you wish but I am going to go on holding my tiller straight.'

Michel de Montaigne / quote

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02c. 1562 AD

Valor is stability not of legs and arms but of courage and the soul.

Michel de Montaigne / quote

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03c. 1562 AD

Cowardice is the mother of cruelty.

Michel de Montaigne / quote

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04c. 1562 AD

Obstinacy and heat in sticking to one's opinions is the surest proof of stupidity. Is there anything so cocksure so immovable so disdainful so contemplative so solemn and serious as an ass?

Michel de Montaigne / quote

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05c. 1562 AD

One should be ever booted and spurred and ready to depart.

Michel de Montaigne / quote

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06c. 1562 AD

We undo ourselves by impatience. Misfortunes have their life and their limits their sickness and their health.

Michel de Montaigne / quote

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07c. 1562 AD

Riches like glory or health have no more beauty or pleasure than their possessor is pleased to lend them.

Michel de Montaigne / quote

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08c. 1562 AD

There are defeats more triumphant than victories.

Michel de Montaigne / quote

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09c. 1562 AD

All the fame I look for in life is to have lived it quietly.

Michel de Montaigne / quote

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10c. 1562 AD

We are all of us richer than we think we are.

Michel de Montaigne / quote

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11c. 1562 AD

If you press me to say why I loved him I can say no more than it was because he was he and I was 1.

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12c. 1562 AD

A good marriage would be between a blind wife and a deaf husband.

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13c. 1562 AD

The great and glorious masterpiece of man is to know how to live to purpose.

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14c. 1562 AD

The soul that has no established aim loses itself.

Michel de Montaigne / quote

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15c. 1562 AD

The great and glorious masterpiece of man is how to live with a purpose.

Michel de Montaigne / quote

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16c. 1562 AD

No wind serves him who addresses his voyage to no certain port.

Michel de Montaigne / quote

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17c. 1562 AD

He who does not live in some degree for others hardly lives for himself.

Michel de Montaigne / quote

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18c. 1562 AD

Oh what a valiant faculty is hope.

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19c. 1562 AD

Once conform once do what others do because they do it and a kind of lethargy steals over all the finer senses of the soul.

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20c. 1562 AD

Whatever is enforced by command is more imputed to him who exacts than to him who performs.

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21c. 1562 AD

The highest wisdom is continual cheerfulness such a state like the region above the moon is always clear and serene.

Michel de Montaigne / quote

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22c. 1562 AD

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

Michel de Montaigne / quote

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23c. 1562 AD

It is commonly seen by experience that excellent memories do often accompany weak judgements.

Michel de Montaigne / quote

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24c. 1562 AD

The beauty of stature is the only beauty of men.

Michel de Montaigne / quote

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