All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
Michel De MontaigneRead
Virtue rejects facility to be her companion. She requires a craggy, rough and thorny way.
Interpretation
True virtue demands effort and perseverance, not ease and comfort.
This quote by Michel De Montaigne highlights that genuine virtue and moral integrity do not come easily. Instead, they require a challenging journey filled with obstacles and hardships, suggesting that quickly gained or effortless qualities may not be truly virtuous.
In practice
This quote can be used in a motivational seminar discussing the importance of hard work in achieving one's goals.
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.
Spiritual people should not be ashamed of being wealthy.
We may give advice, but not the sense to use it.
It is not your role to make others happy, it is your role to keep yourself in balance. When you pay attention to how you feel and practice self-empowering thoughts that align with who you really are, you will offer an example of thriving that will be of tremendous value to those who have the benefit of observing you.
Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.
Think deeply about things. Don’t just go along because that’s the way things are or that’s what your friends say. Consider the effects, consider the alternatives, but most importantly, just think.
If you think about disaster, you will get it. Brood about death and you hasten your demise. Think positively and masterfully, with confidence and faith, and life becomes more secure, more fraught with action, richer in achievement and experience.
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