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Portrait of Michel de Montaigne

Michel de Montaigne

1533-1592 | Bordeaux, France

The man who invented the essay and made doubt a virtue. Michel de Montaigne retired to his tower library to examine himself and, through himself, humanity. "Que sais-je?" - What do I know? - was his motto. His Essays range across every topic: death, friendship, cannibals, books, experience. He wrote with disarming honesty about his own faults, fears, and bodily functions. In an age of religious wars, he counseled tolerance and moderation. He remains the most companionable of philosophers, a friend across the centuries.

Montaigne's Essays

107 essays in three books
Essays I
Of Idleness
 Essays I
Of Friendship
 Essays I
Of Cannibals
 Essays II
Of Books
 Essays II
Apology for Raymond Sebond
 Essays III
Of Experience
 Essays III
Of Vanity

"Que sais-je?" (What do I know?)

- Montaigne's personal motto

"The most manifest sign of wisdom is a continual cheerfulness."

- Essays

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

- Essays

"Nothing is so firmly believed as what we least know."

- Essays

"If you press me to say why I loved him, I can say no more than because he was he, and I was I."

- On Friendship