Essays of Michel De Montaigne — Complete
The Essays (French: Essais, pronounced [esɛ]) of Michel de Montaigne are contained in three books and 107 chapters of varying length. They were originally written in Middle French and published in the Kingdom of France. Montaigne's stated design in writing, publishing and revising the Essays over the period from approximately 1570 to 1592 was to record "some traits of my character and of my humours." The Essays were first published in 1580 and cover a wide range of topics. The Essais exercised an important influence on both French and English literature, in thought and style.
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“On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.””
— Michel de Montaigne
“The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.””
— Michel de Montaigne
“I quote others only in order the better to express myself.””
— Michel de Montaigne
“He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears.””
— Michel de Montaigne
“When I am attacked by gloomy thoughts, nothing helps me so much as running to my books. They quickly absorb me and banish the clouds from my mind.””
— Michel de Montaigne
“If you press me to say why I loved him, I can say no more than because he was he, and I was I.””
— Michel de Montaigne
“If I speak of myself in different ways, that is because I look at myself in different ways.””
— Michel de Montaigne
“Learned we may be with another man's learning: we can only be wise with wisdom of our own.””
— Michel de Montaigne
“I am afraid that our eyes are bigger than our stomachs, and that we have more curiosity than understanding. We grasp at everything, but catch nothing except wind.””
— Michel de Montaigne
