Michel De Montaigne

The world is but a school of inquisition; it is not who shall enter the ring, but who shall run the best courses.

In plain Truth, it is no Want, but rather Abundance that creates Avarice.

It is very easy to accuse a government of imperfection, for all mortal things are full of it.

Desire and hope will push us on toward the future.

Cowardice is the mother of cruelty.

The strength of any plan depends on the time. Circumstances and things eternally shift and change.

Things seem greater by imagination than they are in effect.

It is not without good reason, that he who has not a good memory should never take upon him the trade of lying.

Example is a bright looking-glass, universal and for all shapes to look into.

I have often seen people uncivil by too much civility, and tiresome in their courtesy.

One open way of speaking introduces another open way of speaking, and draws out discoveries, like wine and love.

Wonder is the foundation of all philosophy, inquiry the progress, ignorance the end.

We are never present with, but always beyond ourselves; fear, desire, hope, still push us on toward the future.

A strong memory is commonly coupled with infirm judgment.

Marriage can be compared to a cage: birds outside it despair to enter, and birds within, to escape.

I must accommodate my history to the hour: I may presently change, not only by fortune, but also by intention.

There is no so wretched and coarse a soul wherein some particular faculty is not seen to shine.

How many worthy men have we known to survive their own reputation, who have seen and suffered the honor and glory most justly acquired in their youth, extinguished in their own presence?

Intemperance is the plaque of sensuality, and temperance is not its bane but its seasoning.

Custom is a second nature, and no less powerful.

A hair shirt does not always render those chaste who wear it.