Quotes by Michel de Montaigne

Marriage, a market which has nothing free but the entrance.

I prefer the company of peasants because they have not been educated sufficiently to reason incorrectly.

The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness.

It is the mind that maketh good or ill, That maketh wretch or happy, rich or poor.

The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them... Whether you find satisfaction in life depends not on your tale of years, but on your will.

My trade and art is to live.

The public weal requires that men should betray, and lie, and massacre.

Make your educational laws strict and your criminal ones can be gentle but if you leave youth its liberty you will have to dig dungeons for ages.

Every one rushes elsewhere and into the future, because no one wants to face ones own inner self.

“The advantage of living is not measured by length, but by use; some men have lived long, and lived little; attend to it while you are in it. It lies in your will, not in the number of years, for you to have lived enough.”

“I quote others only in order the better to express myself.”

“Why do people respect the package rather than the man?”

“There is indeed a certain sense of gratification when we do a good deed that gives us inward satisfaction, and a generous pride that accompanies a good conscience…These testimonies of a good conscience are pleasant; and such a natural pleasure is very beneficial to us; it is the only payment that can never fail. “On Repentance”