All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life can be viewed as a grand performance where some actively participate, some seek material gain, and others observe to learn.
In this quote, Michel De Montaigne compares life to the Olympic Games, where individuals play different roles. Some strive for glory and rewards, others are motivated by financial gain, while there are those who simply watch and reflect on the experiences of others. This reflection allows the observers to understand and potentially improve their own lives. The quote encourages contemplation of our own positions and purposes in the grand spectacle of life.
Themes
LifeObservationOlympic GamesParticipationSelf-Reflection
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about living life fully and not as mere spectators.
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
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
I have never seen a greater monster or miracle in the world than myself.
Michel De MontaigneRead
Similar quotes
It is exceedingly difficult to maintain a sense of absence without turning that absence into some kind of presence
Mark EpsteinRead
I don't want to own anything until I find a place where me and things go together.
Truman CapoteRead
Things that are done, it is needless to speak about...things that are past, it is needless to blame.
ConfuciusRead
Agitators are a set of interfering, meddling people, who come down to some perfectly contented class of the community and sow the seeds of discontent amongst them. That is the reason why agitators are so absolutely necessary. Without them, in our incomplete state, there would be no advance towards civilization.
Oscar WildeRead
Hearing Mass is the ceremony I most favor during my travels. Church is the only place where someone speaks to me and I do not have to answer back.
Charles De GaulleRead
For all men being originally equals, no one by birth could have the right to set up his own family in perpetual preference to all others forever, and tho' himself might deserve some decent degree of honours of his cotemporaries, yet his descendants might be far too unworthy to inherit them.
Thomas PaineRead