The bees visit the flowers here and there, but they make honey of them which is all their own; it is no longer thyme or marjoram: so the pieces borrowed from others he will transform and mix up into a work all his own. Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533 – 1592)
I care not so much what I am in the opinion of others, as what I am in my own. I would be rich of myself, and not by borrowing. Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533 – 1592)
Nothing is so firmly believed as what we least know. Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533 – 1592)
We are never present with, but always beyond ourselves. Fear, desire, and hope are always pushing us towards the future. Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533 – 1592)
All other knowledge is hurtful to him who has not the science of honesty and good-nature. Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533 – 1592)
Fortune does us neither good nor hurt; she only presents us the matter, and the seed, which our soul, more powerfully than she, turns and applies as she best pleases; being the sole cause and sovereign mistress of her own happy or unhappy condition. Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533 – 1592)
There is no passion that so much transports men from their right judgement as anger. Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533 – 1592)
The most certain sign of wisdom is continual cheerfulness; her state is like that of things in the regions above the moon, always clear and serene. Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533 – 1592)
This is the greatest work of all. In order to show and release her powers, Nature has no need of fortune; she shows herself equally on all levels, and behind a curtain as well as without one. To compose our character is our duty, not to compose books, and to win, not battles and provinces, but order and tranquility in […]
