Quote

Marriage can be compared to a cage: birds outside it despair to enter, and birds within, to escape.

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
Bird
Cage
Outside
Cages
Marriage
Wedding
Within
Compared
Birds
Enter
Escape
Despair

More quotes by Michel de Montaigne

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A man never speaks of himself without losing something. What he says in his disfavor is always beleived, but when he commends himself, he arouses mistrust.
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Not being able to govern events, I govern myself, and apply myself to them if they will not apply themselves to me.
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Every abridgement of a good book is a fool abridged.
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I am much afraid that we shall have very greatly hastened the decline and ruin of the New World by our contagion, and that we willhave sold it our opinions and our arts very dear.
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Others form man I tell of him, and portray a particular one, very ill-formed, whom I should really make very different from whathe is if I had to fashion him over again. But now it is done.
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No spiritual mind remains within itself it is always aspiring and going beyond its own strength.
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The soul which has no fixed purpose in life is lost to be everywhere, is to be nowhere.
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Why dost thou complain of this world? It detains thee not thy own cowardice is the cause, if thou livest in pain.
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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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The first lessons with which we should irrigate his mind should be those which teach him to know himself, and to know how to die ... and to live.
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I have here only made a nosegay of culled flowers, and have brought nothing of my own but the thread that tied them together.
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There is indeed a certain sense of gratification when we do a good deed that gives us inward satisfaction, and a generous pride that accompanies a good conscience…These testimonies of a good conscience are pleasant and such a natural pleasure is very beneficial to us it is the only payment that can never fail. “On Repentance
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Socrates and then Archesilaus used to make their pupils speak first they spoke afterwards. 'Obest plerumque iss discere volunt authoritas eorum qui docent.' [For those who want to learn, the obstacle can often be the authority of those who teach]
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Our zeal works wonders, whenever it supports our inclination toward hatred, cruelty, ambition.
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I consider myself an average man, except in the fact that I consider myself an average man.
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I speak the truth, not my fill of it, but as much as I dare speak and I dare to do so a little more as I grow old.
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I must accommodate my history to the hour: I may presently change, not only by fortune, but also by intention.
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Great authors, when they write about causes, adduce not only those they think are true but also those they do not believe in, provided they have some originality and beauty. They speak truly and usefully enough if they speak ingeniously.
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I see this evident, that we willingly accord to piety only the services that flatter our passions.
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Not only does the wind of accidents stir me according to its blowing, but I am also stirred and troubled by the instability of my attitude.
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