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I find no quality so easy for a man to counterfeit as devotion, though his life and manner are not conformable to it the essence of it is abstruse and occult, but the appearances easy and showy.

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
Though
Occult
Easy
Counterfeit
Find
Appearances
Men
Devotion
Life
Manner
Appearance
Conformable
Essence
Abstruse
Quality
Showy

More quotes by Michel de Montaigne

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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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The first distinction among men, and the first consideration that gave one precedence over another, was doubtless the advantage of beauty.
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In my opinion, every rich man is a miser.
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The easy, gentle, and sloping path . . . is not the path of true virtue. It demands a rough and thorny road.
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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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It is easier to sacrifice great than little things.
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There is a huge gulf between the man who follows the conventions and laws of his country and the man who sets out to regiment them and to change them.
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We do not marry for ourselves, whatever we say we marry just as much or more for our posterity, for our family. The practice and benefit of marriage concerns our race very far beyond us.
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There is no greater enemy to those who would please than expectation.
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All of the days go toward death and the last one arrives there.
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When I express my opinions it is so as to reveal the measure of my sight not the measure of the thing.
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If I am to serve as an instrument of deceit, at least let it be with a clear conscience. I do not want to be considered either so affectionate or so loyal a servant as to be found fit to betray anyone.
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Friendship that possesses the whole soul, and there rules and sways with an absolute sovereignty, can admit of no rival.
Michel de Montaigne
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It is in the enjoyment and not in mere possession that makes for happiness.
Michel de Montaigne
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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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He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak.
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Health is a precious thing, and the only one, in truth, meriting that a man should lay out not only his time, sweat, labor and goods, but also life itself to obtain it.
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Everyone gives the title of barbarism to everything that is not in use in his own country.
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Obstinacy and heat in argument are surest proofs of folly. Is there anything so stubborn, obstinate, disdainful, contemplative, grave, or serious, as an ass?
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It is probable that the principal credit of miracles, visions, enchantments, and such extraordinary occurrences comes from the power of imagination, acting principally upon the minds of the common people, which are softer.
Michel de Montaigne