Quote

The first distinction among men, and the first consideration that gave one precedence over another, was doubtless the advantage of beauty.

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
Firsts
Precedence
First
Consideration
Men
Distinction
Advantage
Gave
Among
Beauty
Another
Doubtless

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Laws are often made by fools, and even more often by men who fail in equity because they hate equality: but always by men, vain authorities who can resolve nothing.
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To how many blockheads of my time has a cold and taciturn demeanor procured the credit of prudence and capacity!
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As far as fidelity is concerned, there is no animal in the world as treacherous as man.
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God defend me from myself.
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Glory consists of two parts: the one in setting too great a value upon ourselves, and the other in setting too little a value upon others.
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Virtue rejects facility to be her companion. She requires a craggy, rough and thorny way.
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I cruelly hate cruelty, both by nature and reason, as the worst of all the vices. But then I am so soft in this that I cannot seea chicken's neck wrung without distress, and cannot bear to hear the squealing of a hare between the teeth of my hounds.
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The memory represents to us not what we choose but what it pleases.
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And to bring in a new word by the head and shoulders, they leave out the old one.
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Age imprints more wrinkles in the mind than it does on the face.
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Scratching is one of nature's sweetest gratifications, and nearest at hand.
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If I were of the trade, I should naturalize art as much as they artialize nature.
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The thing I fear most is fear.
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Every man may speak truly, but to speak methodically, prudently, and fully is a talent that few men have.
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There is no more expensive thing than a free gift.
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[Marriage] happens as with cages: the birds without despair to get in, and those within despair of getting out.
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In true friendship, in which I am expert, I give myself to my friend more than I draw him to me. I not only like doing him good better than having him do me good, but also would rather have him do good to himself than to me he does me most good when he does himself good.
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What am I to choose? Choose what you please, as long as you choose. There you have a foolish answer, which seems to be the outcome, however, of all Dogmatism, which will not allow us to be ignorant of that which we are ignorant.
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One should be ever booted and spurred and ready to depart.
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The souls of emperors and cobblers are cast in the same mold...The same reason that makes us wrangle with a neighbor creates a war betwixt princes.
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