WORDS FROM A GREAT MIND

Michel de Montaigne

Essayist & philosopher

Born: 28 February 1533
Died: 13 September 1592
Lived in: Château de Montaigne, Bordeaux, Paris & Italy

Michel de Montaigne was a French writer, public official, and philosopher who made the personal essay into a major literary form. In the Essays he examined friendship, education, fear, habit, uncertainty, and himself with unusual candour and sceptical curiosity.

A LESSER-KNOWN DETAIL

Montaigne wrote in a round tower at his family estate. The beams of his library were painted with Greek and Latin maxims so that questions and reminders literally surrounded him as he worked.

Words by Michel de Montaigne

“My trade and art is to live.”

Michel de Montaigne ↗

“He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears.”

Michel de Montaigne ↗

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

Michel de Montaigne ↗