All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
Michel De MontaigneRead
How many condemnations I have witnessed more criminal than the crime!
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that judging others can sometimes be more unjust than the actions being judged.
Michel De Montaigne reflects on the idea that the act of condemning others can often be more harmful and unjust than the actual wrongdoing itself. This points to the moral complexities of judgment, suggesting that society often rushes to condemn without understanding the full context, thereby perpetrating a greater injustice in the process.
Themes
JudgmentCondemnationCrimeMoralityJustice
In practice
Example use cases
During a debate about justice and morality, this quote can serve as a reminder to consider the impact of judgment.
More from Michel De Montaigne
All quotes →All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed.
Michel De MontaigneRead
Pythagoras used to say that life resembles the Olympic Games: a few people strain their muscles to carry off a prize; others bring trinkets to sell to the crowd for gain; and some there are, and not the worst, who seek no other profit than to look at the show and see how and why everything is done; spectators of the life of other people in order to judge and regulate their own.
Michel De MontaigneRead
There is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state.
Michel De MontaigneRead
Those who have compared our life to a dream were right... we were sleeping wake, and waking sleep.
Michel De MontaigneRead
Such as are in immediate fear of a losing their estates, of banishment, or of slavery, live in perpetual anguish, and lose all appetite and repose; whereas such as are actually poor, slaves, or exiles, ofttimes live as merrily as other folk.
Michel De MontaigneRead
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