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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
Still
Affairs
Vexations
May
Affair
Piercing
Letters
Vexation
Trouble
Annoyance
Small
Disturb
Eye
Petty
Times
Weary
Inconsiderable
Stills
Smallest
Annoyances

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It is a sign of contraction of the mind when it is content, or of weariness.
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Nature has with a Motherly Tenderness observed this, that the Action she has enjoyned us for our Necessity should be also pleasant to us, and invites us to them, not only by Reason, but also by Appetite: and ’tis Injustice to infringe her Laws.
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... whoever believes anything esteems that it is a work of charity to persuade another of it.
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A hair shirt does not always render those chaste who wear it.
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Vexations may be petty, but they are vexations still.
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We feel a kind of bittersweet pricking of malicious delight in contemplating the misfortunes of others.
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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.
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A man never speaks of himself without losing something. What he says in his disfavor is always beleived, but when he commends himself, he arouses mistrust.
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We must learn to endure what we cannot avoid. Our life is composed, like the harmony of the world, of contrary things, also of different tones, sweet and harsh, sharp and flat, soft and loud. If a musician liked only one kind, what would he have to say?
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The archer who overshoots his mark does no better than he who falls short of it.
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It is not death, it is dying that alarms me.
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For among other things he had been counseled to bring me to love knowledge and duty by my own choice, without forcing my will, and to educate my soul entirely through gentleness and freedom.
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It is the part of cowardice, not of courage, to go and crouch in a hole under a massive tomb, to avoid the blows of fortune.
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Now, of all the benefits that virtue confers upon us, the contempt of death is one of the greatest.
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Every man bears the whole stamp of the human condition.
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The reverse side of truth has a hundred thousand shapes and no defined limits.
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'Tis the sharpness of our mind that gives the edge to our pains and pleasures.
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I speak the truth, not my fill of it, but as much as I dare speak and I dare to do so a little more as I grow old.
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Tortures are a dangerous invention, and seem to be a test of endurance rather than of truth.
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Meditation is a rich and powerful method of study for anyone who knows how to examine his mind.
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