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There is, nevertheless, a certain respect and a general duty of humanity that ties us, not only to beasts that have life and sense, but even to trees and plants.

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
Life
General
Duty
Beasts
Tree
Plants
Respect
Nevertheless
Humanity
Ties
Sense
Beast
Certain
Trees
Even
Plant

More quotes by Michel de Montaigne

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So it is with minds. Unless you keep them busy with some definite subject that will bridle and control them, they throw themselves in disorder hither and yon in the vague field of imagination... And there is no mad or idle fancy that they do not bring forth in the agitation.
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Lay a beam between these two towers of such width as we need to walk on: there is no philosophical wisdom of such great firmness that it can give us courage to walk on it as we should if it were on the ground.
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We have no participation in Being, because all human nature is ever midway between being born and dying, giving off only a vague image and shadow of itself, and a weak and uncertain opinion. And if you chance to fix your thoughts on trying to grasp its essence, it would be neither more nor less than if your tried to clutch water.
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The thing in the world I am most afraid of is fear, and with good reason that passion alone, in the trouble of it, exceeding all other accidents
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The souls of emperors and cobblers are cast in the same mould
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Dreams are faithful interpreters of our inclinations but there is art required to sort and understand them.
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I do myself a greater injury in lying than I do him of whom I tell a lie.
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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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To speak less of oneself than what one really is, is folly, not modesty and to take that for current pay which is under a man's value, is pusillanimity and cowardice.
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I know that the arms of friendship are long enough to reach from the one end of the world to the other
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We are born to inquire into truth it belongs to a greater to possess it
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Our zeal works wonders, whenever it supports our inclination toward hatred, cruelty, ambition.
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And if nobody reads me, shall I have wasted my time, when I have beguiled so many idle hours with such pleasant and profitable reflections?
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If I were a maker of books I should compile a register, with comments, of different deaths. He who should teach people to die, would teach them to live.
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Tortures are a dangerous invention, and seem to be a test of endurance rather than of truth.
Michel de Montaigne
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I want death to find me planting my cabbages, but careless of death, and still more of my unfinished garden.
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It is a disaster that wisdom forbids you to be satisfied with yourself and always sends you away dissatisfied and fearful, whereas stubbornness and foolhardiness fill their hosts with joy and assurance.
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Judgement can do without knowledge: but not knowledge without judgement.
Michel de Montaigne
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The good, supreme, divine poetry is above the rules and reason. Whoever discerns its beauty with a firm, sedate gaze does not see it, any more than he sees the splendor of a lightning flash. It does not persuade our judgement, it ravishes and overwhelms it.
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Let us permit nature to have her way. She understands her business better than we do.
Michel de Montaigne