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This Very Rome That We Behold Deserves Our Love ...: The Only Common And Universal City.
-Michel De Montaigne
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This Very Rome That

Michel De Montaigne
...
This Very Rome That We Behold Deserves Our Love ...: The Only Common And Universal City.

Understanding the Quote: "this very rome that we behold deserves our love ...: the only..."

This quote by Michel De Montaigne reflects deeply on the theme of rome. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Rome, Cities, Our Love, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Michel de Montaigne interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Michel De Montaigne

Michel De Montaigne is celebrated for insightful thoughts on rome and cities. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Rome
Cities
Our Love
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Our Thoughts Are Always Elsewhere; We Are Stayed And Supported By The Hope For A Better Life, Or By The Hope That Our Children Will Turn Out Well, Or That Our Name Will Be Famous In The Future, Or That We Shall Escape The Evils Of This Life, Or That Vengeance Threatens Those Who Are The Cause Of Our Death.
Hope
Children
Thinking
Of All Human And Ancient Opinions Concerning Religion, That Seems To Me The Most Likely And Most Excusable, That Acknowledged God As An Incomprehensible Power, The Original And Preserver Of All Things, All Goodness, All Perfection, Receiving And Taking In Good Part The Honour And Reverence That Man Paid Him, Under What Method, Name, Or Ceremonies Soever.
Men
Names
Perfection
The Bees Pillage The Flowers Here And There But They Make Honey Of Them Which Is All Their Own; It Is No Longer Thyme Or Marjolaine: So The Pieces Borrowed From Others He Will Transform And Mix Up Into A Work All His Own.
Flower
Here And There
Thyme
Obstinacy And Dogmatism Are The Surest Signs Of Stupidity. Is There Anything More Confident, Resolute, Disdainful, Grave And Serious Than An Ass?
Stupidity
Serious
Ass
Whenever A New Finding Is Reported To The World People Say - It Is Probably Not True. Later On, When The Reliability Of A New Finding Has Been Fully Confirmed, People Say - Ok, It May Be True But It Has No Real Significance. At Last, When Even The Significance Of The Finding Is Obvious To Everybody, People Say - Well, It Might Have Some Significance, But The Idea Is Not New.
Real
Ideas
People
I Have Seen Books Made Of Things Neither Studied Nor Ever Understood ... The Author Contenting Himself For His Own Part, To Have Cast The Plot And Projected The Design Of It, And By His Industry To Have Bound Up The Fagot Of Unknown Provisions; At Least The Ink And Paper His Own. This May Be Said To Be A Buying Or Borrowing, And Not A Making Or Compiling Of A Book.
Book
Ink And Paper
Design
Intoxication Is Calculated To Put Heart Into The Elderly And Give Them Delight In Dancing.
Heart
Wine
Elderly
Pleasure Itself Is Painful At The Bottom.
Painful
Pleasure
Bottom
Satiety Comes Of Too Frequent Repetition And He Who Will Not Give Himself Leisure To Be Thirsty Can Never Find The True Pleasure Of Drinking
Drinking
Giving
Leisure
Socrates ... Brought Human Wisdom Back Down From Heaven, Where She Was Wasting Her Time, And Restored Her To Man.... It Is Impossible To Go Back Further And Lower. He Did A Great Favor To Human Nature By Showing How Much It Can Do By Itself.
Men
Heaven
Favors
To Forbid Us Anything Is To Make Us Have A Mind To 't.
Positive
Law Of Attraction
Mind
Nothing Is So Firmly Believed As What We Least Know.
Political
Religion
Atheism
When We See A Man With Bad Shoes, We Say It Is No Wonder, If He Is A Shoemaker.
Men
Shoes
Wonder
Lovers Are Angry, Reconciled, Entreat, Thank, Appoint, And Finally Speak All Things, By Their.
Lovers
Speak
All Things
Philosophical Discussions Habitually Make Men Happy And Joyful Not Frowning And Sad.
Philosophical
Men
Words Of Wisdom
The Souls Of Emperors And Cobblers Are Cast In The Same Mould
Soul
Cobblers
Mould
Speech Belongs Half To The Speaker, Half To The Listener. The Latter Must Prepare To Receive It According To The Motion It Takes.
Communication
Listening
Half
We Are Born To Inquire Into Truth; It Belongs To A Greater To Possess It
Born
Greater
Whatever Is Preached To Us, And Whatever We Learn, We Should Still Remember That It Is Man That Gives, And Man That Receives; It Is A Mortal Hand That Presents It To Us, It Is A Mortal Hand That Accepts It.
Men
Hands
Giving
There Is Not One Of Us That Would Not Be Worse Than Kings, If So Continually Corrupted As They Are With A Sort Of Vermin Called Flatterers.
Kings
Flattery
Vermin
What Kind Of Truth Is It Which Has These Mountains As Its Boundary And Is A Lie Beyond Them?
Lying
Mountain
Kind
It Needs Good Management To Enjoy Life. I Enjoy It Twice As Much As Others, For The Measure Of Enjoyment Depends On The Greater Or Less Attention That We Give To It...the Shorter My Possession Of Life The Deeper And Fuller I Must Make It.
Happiness
Giving
Enjoy Life
I Would Like To Suggest That Our Minds Are Swamped By Too Much Study And By Too Much Matter Just As Plants Are Swamped By Too Much Water Or Lamps By Too Much Oil; That Our Minds, Held Fast And Encumbered By So Many Diverse Preoccupations, May Well Lose The Means Of Struggling Free, Remaining Bowed And Bent Under The Load; Except That It Is Quite Otherwise: The More Our Souls Are Filled, The More They Expand; Examples Drawn From Far-off Times Show, On The Contrary, That Great Soldiers Ad Statesmen Were Also Great Scholars.
Educational
Struggle
Mean
Our Skin Is Provided As Adequately As Theirs With Endurance Against The Assaults Of The Weather: Witness So Many Nations Who Have Not Yet Tried The Use Of Any Clothes. Our Ancient Gauls Wore Hardly Any Clothes; Nor Do The Irish, Our Neighbors, Under So Cold A Sky.
Sky
Weather
Clothes
Wonder Is The Foundation Of All Philosophy; Research, The Progress; Ignorance, The End. There Is, By Heavens, A Strong And Generous Kind Of Ignorance That Yields Nothing, For Honour And Courage, To Knowledge: An Ignorance To Conceive Which Needs No Less Knowledge Than To Conceive Knowledge.
Strong
Philosophy
Philosophical
It Is Very Easy To Accuse A Government Of Imperfection, For All Mortal Things Are Full Of It.
Government
Imperfection
Easy
It Makes Me Hate Accepting Things That Are Probable When They Are Held Up Before Me As Infallibly True. I Prefer These Words Which Tone Down And Modify The Hastiness Of Our Propositions: "perhaps, In Some Sort, Some, They Say, I Think," And The Like.
Hate
Thinking
Down And
We Can Be Knowledgeable With Other Men's Knowledge, But We Cannot Be Wise With Other Men's Wisdom.
Wise
Wisdom
Smart
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.
Lying
Satisfaction In Life
Years
A Man Should Keep For Himself A Little Back Shop, All His Own, Quite Unadulterated, In Which He Establishes His True Freedom And Chief Place Of Seclusion And Solitude.
Men
Meditation
Solitude
Man Is Forming Thousands Of Ridiculous Relations Between Himself And God.
Men
Ridiculous
Relation
A Man Has Need Of Tough Ears To Hear Himself Fairly Judged.
Men
Needs
Ears
If I Am To Serve As An Instrument Of Deceit, At Least Let It Be With A Clear Conscience. I Do Not Want To Be Considered Either So Affectionate Or So Loyal A Servant As To Be Found Fit To Betray Anyone.
Deceit
Loyal
Want
Excellent Memories Are Often Coupled With Feeble Judgments.
Memories
Judgment
Excellent
Men ... Are Not Agreed About Any One Thing, Not Even That Heaven Is Over Our Heads.
Men
Agreement
Heaven
All Opinions In The World Agree In This, That Pleasure Is Our End, Although They Differ As To The Means Of Attaining It.
Mean
Differences
World
Necessity Reconciles And Brings Men Together; And This Accidental Connection Afterward Forms Itself Into Laws.
Men
Law
Society
The Honor We Receive From Those That Fear Us, Is Not Honor; Those Respects Are Paid To Royalty And Not To Me.
Respect
Honor
Royalty
Now, Since Everything Else Is Furnished With The Exact Amount Of Needle And Thread Required To Maintain Its Being, It Is In Truth Incredible That We Alone Should Be Brought Into The World In A Defective And Indigent State, In A State Such That We Cannot Maintain Ourselves Without External Aid.
World
Incredibles
Aids
Nature Should Have Been Pleased To Have Made This Age Miserable, Without Making It Also Ridiculous.
Time
Should Have
Age
The Good, Supreme, Divine Poetry Is Above The Rules And Reason. Whoever Discerns Its Beauty With A Firm, Sedate Gaze Does Not See It, Any More Than He Sees The Splendor Of A Lightning Flash. It Does Not Persuade Our Judgement, It Ravishes And Overwhelms It.
Judgement
Lightning
Doe
I Leaf Through Books, I Do Not Study Them. What I Retain Of Them Is Something I No Longer Recognize As Anyone Else's.
Book
Learning
Study
One Should Always Have One's Boots On And Be Ready To Leave.
Death
Boots
Should
A Wise Man Never Loses Anything, If He Has Himself.
Wise
Being Yourself
Men
Nature Clasps All Her Creatures In A Universal Embrace; There Is Not One Of Them Which She Has Not Plainly Furnished With All Means Necessary To The Conservation Of Its Being.
Nature
Mean
Science
A Volunteer, You Assign Yourself Specific Roles And Risks According To Your Judgement Of Their Brilliance And Importance, And You See When Life Itself May Be Justifiably Devoted To Them.
Volunteer
Judgement
Risk
Who Does Not In Some Sort Live To Others, Does Not Live Much To Himself.
Lying
Doe
Nature Has With A Motherly Tenderness Observed This, That The Action She Has Enjoyned Us For Our Necessity Should Be Also Pleasant To Us, And Invites Us To Them, Not Only By Reason, But Also By Appetite: And ’tis Injustice To Infringe Her Laws.
Nature
Law
Action
On The Highest Throne In The World, We Still Sit Only On Our Own Bottom.
Inspiration
Kids
Humility
In Love, 'tis No Other Than Frantic Desire For That Which Flies From Us.
Love
Desire
Frantic
Custom Is A Second Nature, And No Less Powerful.
Powerful
Tradition
Customs
Miracles Arise From Our Ignorance Of Nature, Not From Nature Itself.
Ignorance
Miracle
Agnostic
Let Every Foot Have Its Own Shoe.
Shoes
Feet
If You Don't Know How To Die, Don't Worry; Nature Will Tell You What To Do On The Spot, Fully And Adequately. She Will Do This Job Perfectly For You; Don't Bother Your Head About It.
Funny
Death
Jobs
We Must Learn To Suffer What We Cannot Evade.
Suffering
Lawyers And Physicians Are An Ill Provision For Any Country.
Country
Physicians
Lawyer
In Plain Truth, Lying Is An Accursed Vice. We Are Not Men, Nor Have Any Other Tie Upon Another, But By Our Word.
Life
Success
Lying
All Permanent Decisions Are Made In A Temporary State Of Mind.
Decision
Mind
States
Knowledge Is An Excellent Drug; But No Drug Has Virtue Enough To Preserve Itself From Corruption And Decay, If The Vessel Be Tainted And Impure Wherein It Is Put To Keep.
Knowledge
Drug
Decay
"ultimately The Bond Of All Companionship, Whether In Marriage Or In Friendship, Is Conversation." -if You Press Me To Say Why I Loved Him, I Can Say No More Than It Was Because He Was He And I Was I.
Love
Companionship
Conversation
How Many Things We Held Yesterday As Articles Of Faith Which Today We Tell As Fables.
Inspirational
Faith
Thinking
Since We Cannot Attain Unto It, Let Us Revenge Ourselves By Railing At It; And Yet It Is Not Absolutely Railing Against Anything, To Proclaim Its Defects, Because They Are In All Things To Be Found, How Beautiful Or How Much To Be Coveted Soever.
Revenge
Criticism
Critics
People Of Our Time Are So Formed For Agitation And Ostentation That Goodness, Moderation, Equability, Constancy, And Such Quiet And Obscure Qualities Are No Longer Felt.
Business
People
Society
Don't Be Afraid To Say What You Are Not Afraid To Think
Thinking
Not Afraid
Is It Not A Noble Farce, Wherein Kings, Republics, And Emperors Have For So Many Ages Played Their Parts, And To Which The Whole Vast Universe Serves For A Theatre?
Kings
Age
Theatre
One Should Be Ever Booted And Spurred And Ready To Depart.
Dying
Death And Dying
Should
The Knowledge Of Courtesy And Good Manners Is A Very Necessary Study. It Is Like Grace And Beauty, That Which Begets Liking And An Inclination To Love One Another At The First Sight.
Sight
Grace
Good Man
My Trade And Art Is To Live.
Art
Art Is
Trade
Valor Is Stability, Not Of Legs And Arms, But Of Courage And The Soul.
Veterans Day
Memorial Day
Courage
Fortune, Seeing That She Could Not Make Fools Wise, Has Made Them Lucky.
Funny
Wise
Humor
If Ordinary People Complain That I Speak Too Much Of Myself, I Complain That They Do Not Even Think Of Themselves.
Thinking
People
Ordinary
If My Intentions Were Not To Be Read In My Eyes And Voice, I Should Not Have Survived So Long Without Quarrels And Without Harm, Seeing The Indiscreet Freedom With Which I Say, Right Or Wrong, Whatever Comes Into My Head.
Eye
Voice
Long
We Imagine Much More Appropriately An Artisan On His Toilet Seat Or On His Wife Than A Great President, Venerable By His Demeanorand His Ability. It Seems To Us That They Do Not Stoop From Their Lofty Thrones Even To Live.
Imagination
Wife
President
There Is A Certain Amount Of Purpose, Acquiescence, And Satisfaction In Nursing One's Melancholy.
Sadness
Nursing
Self
A Foreign War Is A Lot Milder Than A Civil War.
War
Civil War
After Mature Deliberation Of Counsel, The Good Queen To Establish A Rule And Immutable Example Unto All Posterity, For The Moderation And Required Modesty In A Lawful Marriage, Ordained The Number Of Six Times A Day As A Lawful, Necessary And Competent Limit.
Sex
Queens
Numbers
It Is An Injustice That An Old, Broken, Half-dead Father Should Enjoy Alone, In A Corner Of His Hearth, Possessions That Would Suffice For The Advancement And Maintenance Of Many Children.
Children
Father
Broken
There Is, Nevertheless, A Certain Respect And A General Duty Of Humanity That Ties Us, Not Only To Beasts That Have Life And Sense, But Even To Trees And Plants.
Respect
Ties
Tree
To Behave Rightly, We Ourselves Should Never Lay A Hand On Our Servants As Long As Our Anger Lasts. Things Will Seem Different To Us When We Have Quieted And Cooled Down.
Anger
Hands
Long
Others Form Man; I Tell Of Him, And Portray A Particular One, Very Ill-formed, Whom I Should Really Make Very Different From Whathe Is If I Had To Fashion Him Over Again. But Now It Is Done.
Fashion
Men
Self
Pythagoras Used To Say That Life Resembles The Olympic Games: A Few People Strain Their Muscles To Carry Off A Prize; Others Bring Trinkets To Sell To The Crowd For Gain; And Some There Are, And Not The Worst, Who Seek No Other Profit Than To Look At The Show And See How And Why Everything Is Done; Spectators Of The Life Of Other People In Order To Judge And Regulate Their Own.
Life
Order
Games
To Compose Our Character Is Our Duty, Not To Compose Books, And To Win, Not Battles And Provinces, But Order And Tranquillity In Our Conduct.
Book
Character
Winning
Once You Have Decided To Keep A Certain Pile, It Is No Longer Yours; For You Can't Spend It.
Certain
Property
Decided
All The World Knows Me In My Book, And My Book In Me.
Book
Reading
World
We Are Born To Inquire After Truth; It Belongs To A Greater Power To Possess It. It Is Not, As Democritus Said, Hid In The Bottom Of The Deeps, But Rather Elevated To An Infinite Height In The Divine Knowledge.
Height
Infinite
Divine
Time Steals Away Without Any Inconvenience.
Time
Stealing
Inconvenience
Experience Teaches That A Strong Memory Is Generally Joined To A Weak Judgment.
Strong
Memories
Judgment
It Is Not My Deeds That I Write Down, It Is Myself, My Essence.
Writing
Essence
Deeds
No Man Dies Before His Hour. The Time You Leave Behind Was No More Yours, Than That Which Was Before Your Birth, And Concerneth You No More.
Death
Men
Birth
It Is No Hard Matter To Get Children; But After They Are Born, Then Begins The Trouble, Solicitude, And Care Rightly To Train, Principle, And Bring Them Up.
Children
Training
Principles
For There Is No Air That Men So Greedily Draw In, That Diffuses Itself So Soon, And That Penetrates So Deep As That Of License.
Men
Air
Draws
The Most Useful And Honorable Science And Occupation For A Woman Is The Science Of Housekeeping. I Know Some That Are Miserly, Very Few That Are Good Managers.
Women
Good Man
Occupation
To How Many Blockheads Of My Time Has A Cold And Taciturn Demeanor Procured The Credit Of Prudence And Capacity!
Credit
Cold
Gravity
The Good Opinion Of The Vulgar Is Injurious.
Opinion
Popularity
Vulgar
Man Is Quite Insane. He Wouldn?t Know How To Create A Maggot, And He Creates Gods By The Dozen.
God
Crazy
Men
Not Only Does The Wind Of Accidents Stir Me According To Its Blowing, But I Am Also Stirred And Troubled By The Instability Of My Attitude.
Attitude
Wind
Doe
Every One's True Worship Was That Which He Found In Use In The Place Where He Chanced To Be.
Use
Worship
Found
[marriage] Happens As With Cages: The Birds Without Despair To Get In, And Those Within Despair Of Getting Out.
Marriage
Bird
Despair
We Every Day And Every Hour Say Things Of Another That We Might More Properly Say Of Ourselves, Could We But Apply Our Observations To Our Own Concerns.
Criticism
Might
Hours
We Must Learn To Endure What We Cannot Avoid. Our Life Is Composed, Like The Harmony Of The World, Of Contrary Things, Also Of Different Tones, Sweet And Harsh, Sharp And Flat, Soft And Loud. If A Musician Liked Only One Kind, What Would He Have To Say?
Life
Sweet
Diversity
I Would Rather Be An Expert On Me Than On Cicero
Experts
Rejoice In The Things That Are Present; All Else Is Beyond Thee.
Live In The Moment
Past Present Future
Mindfulness
Let Us A Little Permit Nature To Take Her Own Way; She Better Understands Her Own Affairs Than We.
Nature
Experience
Littles
It Is Not Death, It Is Dying That Alarms Me.
Dying
Alarms
Death And Dying
Whom Conscience, Ne'er Asleep, Wounds With Incessant Strokes, Not Loud, But Deep.
Incessant
Loud
Strokes
The Entire Lower World Was Created In The Likeness Of The Higher World. All That Exists In The Higher World Appears Like An Image In This Lower World; Yet All This Is But One.
World
Higher
We Are Never Present With, But Always Beyond Ourselves; Fear, Desire, Hope, Still Push Us On Toward The Future.
Optimism
Desire
Pessimism
And Not To Serve For A Table-talk.
Tables
No Two Men Ever Judged Alike Of The Same Thing, And It Is Impossible To Find Two Opinions Exactly Similar, Not Only In Different Men But In The Same Men At Different Times.
Change
Men
Two
Writing Does Not Cause Misery. It Is Born Of Misery.
Writing
Doe
Causes
Intemperance Is The Plaque Of Sensuality, And Temperance Is Not Its Bane But Its Seasoning.
Sensuality
Temperance
Seasoning
We Have The Pleasures Suitable To Our Lot; Let Us Not Usurp Those Of Greatness. Ours Are More Natural And All The More Solid And Sure For Being Humbler. Since We Will Not Do So Out Of Conscience, At Least Out Of Ambition Let Us Reject Ambition.
Ambition
Greatness
Willpower
There Is Nothing More Notable In Socrates Than That He Found Time, When He Was An Old Man, To Learn Music And Dancing, And Thought It Time Well Spent.
Inspirational
Music
Dance
God Defend Me From Myself.
Self
May
The Beautiful Souls Are They That Are Universal, Open, And Ready For All Things.
Beauty
Beautiful
Soul
Example Is A Bright Looking-glass, Universal And For All Shapes To Look Into.
Glasses
Example
Looks
After A Tongue Has Once Got The Knack Of Lying, It Is Not To Be Imagined How Impossible Almost It Is To Reclaim It. Whence It Comes To Pass, That We See Some Men, Who Are Otherwise Very Honest, So Subject To This Vice.
Lying
Men
Vices
Long Life, And Short, Are By Death Made All One; For There Is No Long, Nor Short, To Things That Are No More.
Long
Life And Death
Long Life
That Is Why Bias Jested With Those Who Were Going Through The Perils Of A Great Storm With Him And Calling On The Gods For Help: "shut Up," He Said, "so That They Do Not Realize That You Are Here With Me.
Storm
Calling
Helping
It Is Easier To Sacrifice Great Than Little Things.
Sacrifice
Littles
Little Things
I Was Not Long Since In A Company Where I Was Not Who Of My Fraternity Brought News Of A Kind Of Pills, By True Account, Composed Of A Hundred And Odd Several Ingredients; Whereat We Laughed Very Heartily, And Made Ourselves Good Sport; For What Rock So Hard Were Able To Resist The Shock Or Withstand The Force Of So Thick And Numerous A Battery?
Sports
Medicine
Rocks
Our Zeal Works Wonders, Whenever It Supports Our Inclination Toward Hatred, Cruelty, Ambition.
Ambition
Support
Hatred
Ignorance Is The Softest Pillow On Which A Man Can Rest His Head.
Ignorance
Men
Pillow
Habituation Puts To Sleep The Eye Of Our Judgment.
Sleep
Eye
Judgment
Water, Earth, Air, Fire, And The Other Parts Of This Structure Of Mine Are No More Instruments Of Your Life Than Instruments Of Your Death. Why Do You Fear Your Last Day? It Contributes No More To Your Death Than Each Of The Others. The Last Step Does Not Cause The Fatigue, But Reveals It. All Days Travel Toward Death, The Last One Reaches It.
Death
Fear
Fire
Man In Sooth Is A Marvellous, Vain, Fickle, And Unstable Subject.
Men
Fickle
Vain
All I Say Is By Way Of Discourse, And Nothing By Way Of Advice. I Should Not Speak So Boldly If It Were My Due To Be Believed.
Humility
Advice
Way
It Is In Vain That We Get Upon Stilts, For Once On Them, It Is Still With Our Legs That We Must Walk. And On The Highest Throne In The World We Are Still Sitting On Our Own Ass.
Vanity
Thrones
Sitting
Amongst So Many Borrowed Things, Am Glad If I Can Steal One, Disguising And Altering It For Some New Service.
Stealing
Plagiarism
Glad
What Of A Truth That Is Bounded By These Mountains And Is Falsehood To The World That Lives Beyond?
Life
Truth
Mountain
The Most Profound Joy Has More Of Gravity Than Of Gaiety In It.
Profound
Joy
Gravity
Taking It All In All, I Find It Is More Trouble To Watch After Money Than To Get It.
Money
Watches
Trouble
A Learned Man Is Not Learned In All Things; But A Sufficient Man Is Sufficient Throughout, Even To Ignorance Itself.
Ignorance
Men
All Things
I Want To Be Seen Here In My Simple, Natural, Ordinary Fashion, Without Straining Or Artifice; For It Is Myself That I Portray... I Am Myself The Matter Of My Book.
Fashion
Book
Simple
The Dispersing And Scattering Our Names Into Many Mouths, We Call Making Them More Great.
Names
Mouths
Fame
Such As Are In Immediate Fear Of A Losing Their Estates, Of Banishment, Or Of Slavery, Live In Perpetual Anguish, And Lose All Appetite And Repose; Whereas Such As Are Actually Poor, Slaves, Or Exiles, Ofttimes Live As Merrily As Other Folk.
Slavery
Losing
Poor
The Only Good Histories Are Those Written By Those Who Had Command In The Events They Describe.
History
Events
Command
He That Is A Friend To Himself, Know; He Is A Friend To All.
Knows
It Is Not Without Good Reason, That He Who Has Not A Good Memory Should Never Take Upon Him The Trade Of Lying.
Honesty
Memories
Lying
There Are Few Men Who Dare To Publish To The World The Prayers They Make To Almighty God.
God
Prayer
Men
There Is Nothing So Noble And So Right As To Play Our Human Life Well And Fitly, Nor Anything So Difficult To Learn As How To Livethis Life Well And According To Nature.
Play
Noble
Human Nature
There Is Nothing On Which Men Are Commonly More Intent Than On Making A Way For Their Opinions.
Men
Way
Opinion
It Is Good To Rub And Polish Our Brain Against That Of Others.
Communication
Knowledge
Brain
There Is More Ado To Interpret Interpretations Than To Interpret Things, And More Books Upon Books Than Upon Any Other Subject; We Do Nothing But Comment Upon One Another. Every Place Swarms With Commentaries; Of Authors There Is Great Scarcity.
Book
Scarcity
Interpretation
While Our Pulse Beats And We Feel Emotion, Let Us Put Off The Business. Things Will Truly Seem Different To Us When We Have Quieted And Cooled Down. It Is Passion That Is In Command At First, It Is Passion That Speaks, It Is Not We Ourselves.
Passion
Different
Firsts
There Is No Pleasure To Me Without Communication: There Is Not So Much As A Sprightly Thought Comes Into My Mind That It Does Not Grieve Me To Have Produced Alone, And That I Have No One To Tell It To.
Inspirational
Communication
Grieving
It Is The Part Of Cowardice, Not Of Courage, To Go And Crouch In A Hole Under A Massive Tomb, To Avoid The Blows Of Fortune.
Blow
Cowardice
Holes
What Enriches Language Is Its Being Handled And Exploited By Beautiful Minds-not So Much By Making Innovations As By Expanding It Through More Vigorous And Varied Applications, By Extending It And Deploying It. It Is Not Words That They Contribute: What They Do Is Enrich Their Words, Deepen Their Meanings And Tie Down Their Usage; They Teach It Unaccustomed Rhythms, Prudently Though And With Ingenuity.
Beautiful
Book
Ties
In My Opinion, The Most Fruitful And Natural Play Of The Mind Is Conversation. I Find It Sweeter Than Any Other Action In Life; And If I Were Forced To Choose, I Think I Would Rather Lose My Sight Than My Hearing And Voice. The Study Of Books Is A Drowsy And Feeble Exercise Which Does Not Warm You Up.
War
Book
Exercise
Wisdom Has Its Excesses, And Has No Less Need Of Moderation Than Folly.
Happiness
Wisdom
Excess
Among The Liberal Arts, Let Us Begin With The Art That Liberates Us.
Art
Liberal Arts
If People Must Be Talking About Me, I Would Have It To Be Truthfully And Justly. I Would Willingly Return From The Next World To Contradict Any Person Who Described Me Other Than I Was, Although He Did It To Honour Me.
Truth
Self
Talking
We Should Spread Joy, But, As Far As We Can, Repress Sorrow.
Wisdom
Joy
Sorrow
It Is A Rare Life That Remains Orderly Even In Private.
Orderliness
Remains
Orderly
Since We Cannot Match It Let Us Take Our Revenge By Abusing It.
Revenge
The Height And Value Of True Virtue Consists In The Facility, Utility, And Pleasure Of Its Exercise; So Far From Difficulty, That Boys, As Well As Men, And The Innocent As Well As The Subtle, May Make It Their Own; And It Is By Order And Good Conduct, And Not By Force, That It Is To Be Acquired.
Exercise
Boys
Men
Nor Is It Enough To Toughen Up His Soul; You Must Also Toughen Up His Muscles.
Educational
Soul
Enough
I Had Rather Fashion My Mind Than Furnish It.
Fashion
Mind
Once Conform, Once Do What Others Do Because They Do It, And A Kind Of Lethargy Steals Over All The Finer Senses Of The Soul.
Inspirational
Being Yourself
Freedom
A Man Who Fears Suffering Is Already Suffering From What He Fears.
Fear
Happy Life
Men
I Quote Others In Order To Better Express Myself.
Order
Quotations
Men Of Simple Understanding, Little Inquisitive And Little Instructed, Make Good Christians.
Christian
Simple
Men
There Is Nothing Useless In Nature; Not Even Uselessness Itself
Useless
Uselessness
Who Feareth To Suffer Suffereth Already, Because He Feareth.
Fear
Suffering
What Am I To Choose? "choose What You Please, As Long As You Choose." There You Have A Foolish Answer, Which Seems To Be The Outcome, However, Of All Dogmatism, Which Will Not Allow Us To Be Ignorant Of That Which We Are Ignorant.
Ignorance
Long
Ignorant
We Feel A Kind Of Bittersweet Pricking Of Malicious Delight In Contemplating The Misfortunes Of Others.
Delight
Bittersweet
Kind
We Must Not Attach Knowledge To The Mind, We Have To Incorporate It There.
Understanding
Mind
When I Play With My Cat, Who Knows Whether She Is Not Amusing Herself With Me More Than I With Her.
Funny
Humor
Cat
If These Essays Were Worthy Of Being Judged, It Might Fall Out, In My Opinion, That They Would Not Find Much Favour, Either With Common And Vulgar Minds, Or With Uncommon And Eminent Ones: The Former Would Not Find Enough In Them, The Latter Would Find Too Much; They Might Manage To Live Somewhere In The Middle Region.
Fall
Mind
Favour
Men Do Not Know The Natural Infirmity Of Their Mind: It Does Nothing But Ferret And Quest, And Keeps Incessantly Whirling Around, Building Up And Becoming Entangled In Its Own Work, Like Silkworms, And Is Suffocated In It. A Mouse In A Pitch Barrel...thinks It Notices From A Distance Some Sort Of Glimmer Of Imaginary Light And Truth; But While Running Toward It, It Is Crossed By So Many Difficulties And Obstacles, And Diverted By So Many New Quests, That It Strays From The Road, Bewildered.
Running
Distance
Men
Lay A Beam Between These Two Towers Of Such Width As We Need To Walk On: There Is No Philosophical Wisdom Of Such Great Firmness That It Can Give Us Courage To Walk On It As We Should If It Were On The Ground.
Wisdom
Philosophical
Two
To Know Much Is Often The Cause Of Doubting More.
Doubt
Causes
Knows
To Say Less Of Yourself Than Is True Is Stupidity, Not Modesty. To Pay Yourself Less Than You Are Worth Is Cowardice And Pusillanimity.
Self
Stupidity
Pay
Of All Our Infirmities, The Most Savage Is To Despise Our Being.
Confidence
Self Esteem
Acceptance
Tis So Much To Be A King, That He Only Is So By Being So.
Kings
War
Medieval War
I May Indeed Very Well Happen To Contradict Myself; But Truth, As Demades Said, I Do Not Contradict.
May
Contradiction
Said
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.
Life
Lying
Men
I Conceive That Pleasures Are To Be Avoided If Greater Pains Be The Consequence, And Pains To Be Coveted That Will Terminate In Greater Pleasures.
Pain
Pleasure
Avoided
The Receipts Of Cookery Are Swelled To A Volume, But A Good Stomach Excels Them All; To Which Nothing Contributes More Than Industry And Temperance.
Volume
Stomach
Temperance
The First Law That Ever God Gave To Man Was A Law Of Pure Obedience; It Was A Commandment Naked And Simple, Wherein Man Had Nothing To Inquire After, Or To Dispute, Forasmuch As To Obey Is The Proper Office Of A Rational Soul, Acknowledging A Heavenly Superior And Benefactor. From Obedience And Submission Spring All Other Virtues, As All Sin Does From Self-opinion.
Spring
Simple
Men
It Is Only Reasonable To Allow The Administration Of Affairs To Mothers Before Their Children Reach The Age Prescribed By Law At Which They Themselves Can Be Responsible. But That Father Would Have Reared Them Ill Who Could Not Hope That In Their Maturity They Would Have More Wisdom And Competence Than His Wife.
Family
Mother
Children
Can Anything Be Imagined So Ridiculous That This Miserable And Wretched Creature, Who Is Not So Much As Master Of Himself, But Subject To The Injuries Of All Things, Should Call Himself Master And Emperor Of The World, Of Which He Has Not Power To Know The Least Part, Much Less To Command The Whole?
World
Ridiculous
Miserable
There Are As Many And Innumerable Degrees Of Wit, As There Are Cubits Between This And Heaven.
Heaven
Degrees
Wit
Ambition Is, Of All Other, The Most Contrary Humor To Solitude; And Glory And Repose Are So Inconsistent That They Cannot Possibly Inhabit One And The Same Place; And For So Much As I Understand, Those Have Only Their Arms And Legs Disengaged From The Crowd, Their Mind And Intention Remain Engaged Behind More Than Ever.
Ambition
Solitude
Mind
T Is One And The Same Nature That Rolls On Her Course, And Whoever Has Sufficiently Considered The Present State Of Things Might Certainly Conclude As To Both The Future And The Past.
Past
Might
States
I Find That The Best Virtue I Have Has In It Some Tincture Of Vice.
Vices
Virtue
The Clatter Of Arms Drowns Out The Voice Of Law.
Law
Voice
Political
Every Movement Reveals Us.
Movement
Most Men Are Rich In Borrowed Sufficiency: A Man May Very Well Say A Good Thing, Give A Good Answer, Cite A Good Sentence, Without At All Seeing The Force Of Either The One Or The Other.
Men
Giving
Answers
How Many Quarrels, And How Important, Has The Doubt As To The Meaning Of This Syllable "hoc" Produced For The World!
Doubt
Important
World
... Whoever Believes Anything Esteems That It Is A Work Of Charity To Persuade Another Of It.
Believe
Charity
Belief
There Is No Wish More Natural Than The Wish To Know.
Wish
Natural
Knows
He Who Is Not Sure Of His Memory, Should Not Undertake The Trade Of Lying.
Honesty
Memories
Lying
Not Because Socrates Said So, But Because It Is In Truth My Own Disposition — And Perchance To Some Excess — I Look Upon All Men As My Compatriots, And Embrace A Pole As A Frenchman, Making Less Account Of The National Than Of The Universal And Common Bond.
Men
Looks
Excess
No Wonder, Said An Ancient, That Chance Has So Much Power Over Us, Since It Is By Chance That We Live.
Chance
Wonder
Ancient
If Faces Were Not Alike, We Could Not Distinguish Men From Beasts; If They Were Not Different, We Could Not Tell One Man From Another.
Men
Different
Portraiture
Oh Senseless Man, Who Cannot Possibly Make A Worm Or A Flea And Yet Will Create Gods By The Dozen!
God
Heart
Men
A Man Must Become Wise At His Own Expense.
Wise
Wisdom
Men
What Kind Of Truth Is This Which Is True On One Side Of A Mountain And False On The Other?
Mountain
Sides
Kind
Presumption Is Our Natural And Original Malady. The Most Vulnerable And Frail Of All Creatures Is Man, And At The Same Time The Most Arrogant.
Men
Self
Arrogance
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