The Essays of Michel de Montaigne are contained in three books and 107 chapters of varying length. They were originally written in Middle French and were originally published in the Kingdom of France. Montaigne's stated design in writing, publishing and revising the Essays over the period from approximately 1570 to 1592 was to record "some traits of my character and of my humours." The Essays were first published in 1580 and cover a wide range of topics.
“Nature forms us for ourselves, not for others; to be, not to seem.”
Book II, Ch. 37. Of the Resemblance of Children to their Brothers
Essais (1595), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“For a desperate disease a desperate cure.”
Book II, Ch. 3. The Custom of the Isle of Cea
Essais (1595), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Book III, Ch. 13. Of Experience
Essais (1595), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“I want death to find me planting my cabbages.”
Je veux que la mort me trouve plantant mes choux.
Book I, Ch. 20
Essais (1595), Book I
“I find that the best goodness I have has some tincture of vice.”
Book II, Ch. 20
Essais (1595), Book II
Variant: I find that the best goodness I have has some tincture of vice.
“Physicians have this advantage: the sun lights their success and the earth covers their failures.”
Book II, Ch. 37
Essais (1595), Book II
“Not because Socrates said so,… I look upon all men as my compatriots.”
Book III, Ch. 9. Of Vanity
Essais (1595), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“I do not speak the minds of others except to speak my own mind better.”
Je ne dis les autres, sinon pour d'autant plus me dire.
Book I, Ch. 26
Essais (1595), Book I
Variant: I quote others only in order the better to express myself.
Book II, Ch. 37
Essais (1595), Book II
Variant: There were never in the world two opinions alike, any more than two hairs or two grains. Their most universal quality is diversity.
“A wise man never loses anything, if he has himself.”
Book I, Ch. 38. Of Solitude
Essais (1595), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Book III, Ch. 4. http://books.google.com/books?id=pXItAAAAMAAJ&q="Non+pudeat+dicere+quod+non+pudet+scntire+Let+no+man+be+ashamed+to+speak+what+he+is+not+ashamed+to+think"&pg=PA57#v=onepage
Essais (1595), Book III
“What if he has borrowed the matter and spoiled the form, as it oft falls out?”
Book III, Ch. 8. Of the Art of Conversation
Essais (1595), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“A little folly is desirable in him that will not be guilty of stupidity.”
Book III, Ch. 9. Of Vanity
Essais (1595), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Book I, Ch. 27. Of Friendship
Essais (1595), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Book III, Ch. 12 : Of Physiognomy
Essais (1595), Book III
“The diversity of physical arguments and opinions embraces all sorts of methods.”
Book III, Ch. 13. Of Experience
Essais (1595), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
J'ai seulement fait ici un amas de fleurs étrangères, n'y ayant fourni du mien que le filet à les lier.
Book III, Ch. 12 : Of Physiognomy
Essais (1595), Book III
Book II, Ch. 12. Apology for Raimond Sebond
Essais (1595), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Things are not bad in themselves, but our cowardice makes them so.”
Book I, Ch. 14
Essais (1595), Book I
