I find no quality so easy for a man to counterfeit as devotion, though his life and manner are not conformable to it; the essence of it is abstruse and occult, but the appearances easy and showy
Montaigne quote He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak
Montaigne quote Fear sometimes adds wings to the heels, and sometimes nails them to the ground, and fetters them from moving
Montaigne quote Few men are admired by their servants.
Montaigne quote Courtesy, like grace and beauty, that which begets liking and inclination to love one another at the first sight, and in the very beginning of our acquaintance and familiarity; and, consequently, that which first opens the door for us to better ourselves by the example of others, if there be anything in the society worth notice
Montaigne quote Eloquence is an engine invented to manage and wield at will the fierce democracy, and, like medicine to the sick, is only employed in the paroxysms of a disordered state.
Montaigne quote Confidence in another man's virtue is no slight evidence of a man's own
Montaigne quote Every one is well or ill at ease, according as he finds himself! not he whom the world believes, but he who believes himself to be so, is content; and in him alone belief gives itself being and reality
Montaigne quote Biography
French moralist and essayist, 1533-92