All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
Michel De MontaigneRead
A straight oar looks bent in the water. What matters is not merely that we see things but how we see them.
Interpretation
Perspective shapes our understanding of reality.
This quote by Michel De Montaigne emphasizes the importance of perspective in interpreting the world around us. It suggests that our perception can distort reality, similar to how an oar appears bent when placed in water, highlighting that how we see things often matters more than the things themselves.
In practice
In a motivational speech about overcoming obstacles.
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.
Power is a poison well known for thousands of years. If only no one were ever to acquire material power over others! But to the human being who has faith in some force that holds dominion over all of us, and who is therefore conscious of his own limitations, power is not necessarily fatal. For those, however, who are unaware of any higher sphere, it is a deadly poison. For them there is no antidote.
Darkness coiled between what he wanted them to believe and the self he despised. It only made him more alone. How could you save someone when he didn't let you kno him? What a waste. The beauty he murdered in this place. He could never see what he had, only what he failed to achieve.
Peace is not only better than war, but infinitely more arduous.
Secrecy involves a tension which, at the moment of revelation, finds its release.
Southern women often marry a man knowing that he is the father of many little slaves. They do not trouble themselves about it.
Life is more important than architecture.
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