All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
Michel De MontaigneRead
No-one is exempt from speaking nonsense – the only misfortune is to do it solemnly.
Interpretation
Everyone occasionally speaks nonsense, but the real issue arises when one takes it too seriously.
In this quote, Michel De Montaigne highlights the universal truth that all individuals express nonsensical ideas at some point. The quote suggests that the lack of humor and seriousness in the way we communicate nonsense can lead to misfortune, as it undermines genuine communication and understanding.
In practice
During a lighthearted talk at a party, this quote can be shared to encourage laughter.
All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
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.
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.
There is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state.
Those who have compared our life to a dream were right... we were sleeping wake, and waking sleep.
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.
I have a fine sense of the ridiculous, but no sense of humor.
Seamen have a custom, when they meet a whale, to fling him out an empty tub by way of amusement, to divert him from laying violent hands upon the ship.
Humor is just another defense against the universe.
Dad: Honey, have you seen my glasses? I can"t find them. Mom: I haven't seen them. Calvin: (with glasses, to Dad) Calvin, go do something you hate! Being miserable builds character!
A national political campaign is better than the best circus ever heard of, with a mass baptism and a couple of hangings thrown in.
You know how they say that religion is the opiate of the masses? Well I took masses of opiates religiously.
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