Michel de Montaigne

"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."

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Source: Michel de Montaigne (1991). “The essays of Michel de Montaigne”, Lane, Allen

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Michel de Montaigne

Michel de Montaigne

Philosopher, Writer

Michel de Montaigne was a French philosopher known for his influential work 'Essays', which explores self-reflection and the human condition.

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"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?"

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