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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

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Michel de Montaigne
Age: 59 †
Born: 1533
Born: February 28
Died: 1592
Died: September 13
Autobiographer
Essayist
French Moralist
Jurist
Philosopher
Poet Lawyer
Politician
Translator
Writer
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
Miquèu Eiquèm de Montanha
Miqueu Eiquem de Montanha
Eyes
Stomachs
Understanding
Grasp
Eye
Catch
Everything
Curiosity
Nothing
Except
Bigger
Afraid
Wind

More quotes by Michel de Montaigne

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There never were, in the world, two opinions alike, no more than two hairs, or two grains the most universal quality is diversity.
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... whoever believes anything esteems that it is a work of charity to persuade another of it.
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All other knowledge is hurtful to him who has not honesty and good-nature
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There is no greater enemy to those who would please than expectation.
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The continuous work of our life is to build death.
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The reverse side of truth has a hundred thousand shapes and no defined limits.
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The study of books is a drowsy and feeble exercise which does not warm you up.
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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.
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To say less of yourself than is true is stupidity, not modesty. To pay yourself less than you are worth is cowardice and pusillanimity.
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I do not correct my first imaginings by my second--well, yes, perhaps a word or so, but only to vary, not to delete. I want to represent the course of my humors and I want people to see each part at its birth.
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Valor is strength, not of legs and arms, but of heart and soul it consists not in the worth of our horse or our weapons, but in our own.
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Plenty and indigence depend upon the opinion every one has of them and riches, like glory of health, have no more beauty or pleasure than their possessor is pleaded to lend them.
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Our own peculiar human condition is that we are as fit to be laughed at as able to laugh.
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The religion of my doctor or my lawyer cannot matter. That consideration has nothing in common with the functions of the friendship they owe me.
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There is some shadow of delight and delicacy which smiles upon and flatters us even in the very lap of melancholy.
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All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
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If love and ambition should be in equal balance, and come to jostle with equal force, I make no doubt but that the last would win the prize.
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We must learn to endure what we cannot avoid. Our life is composed, like the harmony of the world, of contrary things, also of different tones, sweet and harsh, sharp and flat, soft and loud. If a musician liked only one kind, what would he have to say?
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Ambition sufficiently plagues her proselytes, by keeping themselves always in show, like the statue of a public place.
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Courtesy is a science of the highest importance. It is...opening a door that we may derive instruction from the example of others, and at the same time enabling us to benefit them by our example, if there be anything in our character worthy of imitation.
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