Michel de Montaigne

With the goal of describing man with complete frankness and using himself as his most frequent example, Michel de Montaigne first published his "Essays" in 1580. This collection of 107 chapters encompasses a wide variety of subjects, originally inspired by his study of Latin classics, and later by the lives of the leading figures of his time. Michel de Montaigne saw the most basic elements of man as variety and unpredictability, and this idea permeates...

Les Essais de Michel de Montaigne sont une œuvre majeure de la littérature française et mondiale. Publiés pour la première fois en 1580, ils sont une collection de réflexions, de récits autobiographiques et d'essais philosophiques sur une variété de sujets, allant de la religion à la politique en passant par la nature humaine. Montaigne y explore les thèmes de la vie, de la mort, de la connaissance de soi et de la société, avec une profondeur...

One of France's great Renaissance thinkers, Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) invented the essay as a literary form. This compilation features the best of his brief, highly readable reflections on poetry, philosophy, theology, law, literature, education, and world exploration. Remarkably modern in their views, the essays continue to resonate with readers as their author bemoans his failing memory, criticizes his culture's obsession with celebrity, and...

De l'amitié est tiré des Essais de Montaigne, publiés en 1595, à titre posthume. C'est par l'introspection la plus honnête que l'auteur cherche à comprendre l'humanité, par le raisonnement mais aussi par la compréhension intime de ses propres émotions. L'amitié est une rencontre. Quand Montaigne raconte avec bonheur sa relation avec Estienne de La Boétie, le lecteur de son cté expérimente la rencontre avec un auteur, sincère et libre,...

We all die, sooner or later. We all know it, and we wonder when, where, and how it may happen. and yet we go to extraordinary lengths to put the thought of it out of our minds. We hesitate to bring it up in conversations. Montaigne, who ... essay, addressed this issue head on in "To Study Philosophy is to Learn to Die." It is perhaps his best-known essay, a kind of summation of his philosophy, and considered his most stoic. There are three main themes:...

The Essays of Michel de Montaigne (1877) is a collection of essays and letters by Michel de Montaigne. Originally published in French as Essais (1580), this edition was translated by English poet Charles Cotton in the late-17th century and republished by William Carew Hazlitt, the grandson of renowned English essayist and critic William Hazlitt. "No man living is more free from this passion [of sorrow] than I, who yet neither like it in myself nor...

In 1572, Montaigne — nobleman, humanist, and thoroughly Renaissance man — retired to the seclusion of his estate in the Dordogne and started to write. From his pen poured a stream of 'essays' — attempts to capture the observations that came to him on an idiosyncratic range of subjects, from ancient customs, cannibals and books to thumbs, war-horses and the wearing of clothes. He made the study of himself the starting point for investigations...