All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
Michel De MontaigneRead
I have never seen a greater monster or miracle in the world than myself.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the duality of human nature, suggesting that individuals embody both extraordinary potential and profound flaws.
Michel De Montaigne's quote suggests that within each individual lies a complex duality, where one can be perceived as both a 'monster' and a 'miracle.' This highlights the remarkable capabilities of human beings in achieving greatness, while also acknowledging the darker, more flawed aspects that exist within everyone. It invites introspection and an understanding of oneself as a multifaceted being, capable of both remarkable achievements and moral failings.
Themes
SelfHuman NatureDualityPotentialFlaws
In practice
Example use cases
In a self-reflection workshop, this quote can encourage participants to embrace their complexities.
More from Michel De Montaigne
All quotes βAll 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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The World War I, I'm a child of World War I. And I really know about the children of war. Because both my parents were both badly damaged by the war. My father, physically, and both mentally and emotionally. So, I know exactly what it's like to be brought up in an atmosphere of a continual harping on the war.
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All knowledge resolves itself into probability. ... In every judgment, which we can form concerning probability, as well as concerning knowledge, we ought always to correct the first judgment deriv'd from the nature of the object, by another judgment, deriv'd from the nature of the understanding.
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I Think it is lost.....but nothing is ever lost nor can be lost . The body sluggish, aged, cold, the ember left from earlier fires shall duly flame again.
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Don't lies eventually lead to the truth? And don't all my stories, true or false, tend toward the same conclusion? Don't they all have the same meaning? So what does it matter whether they are true or false if, in both cases, they are significant of what I have been and what I am? Sometimes it is easier to see clearly into the liar than into the man who tells the truth. Truth, like light, blinds. Falsehood, on the contrary, is a beautiful twilight that enhances every object.
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Without a free press there can be no free society. That is axiomatic. However, freedom of the press is not an end in itself but a means to the end of a free society. The scope and nature of the constitutional guarantee of the freedom of the press are to be viewed and applied in that light.
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Science grows and Beauty dwindles.
Alfred Lord TennysonRead