Michel de Montaigne Quotes

I do not speak the minds of others except to speak my own mind better.

Lend yourself to others, but give yourself to yourself.

There is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state.

The confidence in another man’s virtue is no light evidence of a man’s own, and God willingly favors such a confidence.

I write to keep from going mad from the contradictions I find among mankind – and to work some of those contradictions out for myself.

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.

It is a sign of contraction of the mind when it is content, or of weariness. A spirited mind never stops within itself; it is always aspiring and going beyond its strength.

In true education, anything that comes to our hand is as good as a book.

There is little less trouble in governing a private family than a whole kingdom.

Ignorance is the softest pillow on which a man can rest his head.