Famous quotes containing the word montaigne:
“We have no participation in Being, because all human nature is ever midway between being born and dying, giving off only a vague image and shadow of itself, and a weak and uncertain opinion. And if you chance to fix your thoughts on trying to grasp its essence, it would be neither more nor less than if your tried to clutch water.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“I am much afraid that we shall have very greatly hastened the decline and ruin of the New World by our contagion, and that we will have sold it our opinions and our arts very dear.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“In truth, knowledge is a great and very useful quality; those who despise it give evidence enough of their stupidity. Yet I do not set its value at that extreme measure that some attribute to it.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)