Quote

Petty vexations may at times be petty, but still they are vexations. The smallest and most inconsiderable annoyances are the most piercing. As small letters weary the eye most, so the smallest affairs disturb us 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
Vexation
Letters
Annoyance
Trouble
Disturb
Small
Petty
Eye
Weary
Inconsiderable
Times
Smallest
Annoyances
Stills
Affairs
Vexations
Still
Piercing
May
Affair

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Beauty is the true prerogative of women, and so peculiarly their own, that our sex, though naturally requiring another sort of feature, is never in its lustre but when puerile and beardless, confused and mixed with theirs.
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We find ourselves more taken with the running up and down, the games, and puerile simplicities of our children, than we do, afterward, with their most complete actions as if we had loved them for our sport, like monkeys, and not as men.
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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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The most certain sign of wisdom is a continual cheerfulness her state is like that of things in the regions above the moon, always clear and serene.
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Princes give mee sufficiently, if they take nothing from me, and doe me much good, if they doe me no hurt: it is all I require of them.
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Tis faith alone that vividly and certainly comprehends the deep mysteries of our religion.
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He that is a friend to himself, know he is a friend to all.
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Age imprints more wrinkles in the mind than it does on the face.
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Ignorance is the softest pillow on which a man can rest his head.
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Men are tormented by the opinions they have of things, and not the things themselves.
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Friendship is a creature formed for a companionship not for a herd.
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It is fear that I stand most in fear of, in sharpness it exceeds every other feeling.
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My trade and art is to live.
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It has never occurred to me to wish for empire or royalty, nor for the eminence of those high and commanding fortunes. My aim lies not in that direction I love myself too well.
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Whatever I may be, I want to be elsewhere than on paper. My art and my industry have been employed in making myself good for something my studies, in teaching me to do, not to write. I have put all my efforts into forming my life. That is my trade and my work.
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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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'Tis the sharpness of our mind that gives the edge to our pains and pleasures.
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Those that will combat use and custom by the strict rules of grammar do but jest
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We are all of us richer than we think we are.
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It should be noted that children at play are not playing about their games should be seen as their most serious-minded activity.
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