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Have you been able to think out and manage your own life? You have done the greatest task of all.... All other things, ruling, hoarding, building, are only little appendages and props, at most.

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
Building
Hoarding
Thinking
Greatest
Props
Life
Littles
Ruling
Able
Thoughtful
Little
Privacy
Task
Done
Manage
Things
Tasks
Appendages
Think

More quotes by Michel de Montaigne

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Knowledge is an excellent drug but no drug has virtue enough to preserve itself from corruption and decay, if the vessel be tainted and impure wherein it is put to keep.
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We owe subjection and obedience to all our kings, whether good or bad, alike, for that has respect unto their office but as to esteem and affection, these are only due to their virtue.
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Some, either from being glued to vice by a natural attachment, or from long habit, no longer recognize its ugliness.
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The honor we receive from those that fear us, is not honor those respects are paid to royalty and not to me.
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The memory represents to us not what we choose but what it pleases.
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Oh senseless man, who cannot possibly make a worm or a flea and yet will create Gods by the dozen!
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Who is it that does not voluntarily exchange his health, his repose, and his very life for reputation and glory? The most useless, frivolous, and false coin that passes current among us.
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It's not victory if it doesn't end the war.
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The study of books is a drowsy and feeble exercise which does not warm you up.
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If my mind could gain a firm footing, I would not make essays, I would make decisions but it is always in apprenticeship and on trial.
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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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Is there a polity better ordered, the offices better distributed, and more inviolably observed and maintained, than that of bees?
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Nor is it enough to toughen up his soul you must also toughen up his muscles.
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It is not necessity but abundance which produces greed.
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Were I to live my life over again, I should live it just as I have done. I neither complain of the past, nor do I fear the future.
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A wise man never loses anything, if he has himself.
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There is a plague on Man, the opinion that he knows something.
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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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Take care that old age does not wrinkle your spirit even more than your face.
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What kind of truth is it which has these mountains as its boundary and is a lie beyond them?
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