Chapter 4

A man may govern himself well who cannot govern others so A man should diffuse joy, but, as much as he can, smother grief A well-bred man is a compound man All over-nice solicitude about riches smells of avarice Always complaining is the way never to be lamented Appetite comes to me in eating Better to be alone than in foolish and troublesome company By suspecting them, have given them a title to do ill Change only gives form to injustice and tyranny Civil innocence is measured according to times and places Conclude the depth of my sense by its obscurity Concluding no beauty can be greater than what they see Confession enervates reproach and disarms slander Counterfeit condolings of pretenders Crates did worse, who threw himself into the liberty of poverty Desire of travel Enough to do to comfort myself, without having to console others Friend, it is not now time to play with your nails Gain to change an ill condition for one that is uncertain Giving is an ambitious and authoritative quality Good does not necessarily succeed evil; another evil may succeed Greedy humour of new and unknown things He must fool it a little who would not be deemed wholly a fool I always find superfluity superfluous I am disgusted with the world I frequent I am hard to be got out, but being once upon the road I am very willing to quit the government of my house I content myself with enjoying the world without bustle I enter into confidence with dying I grudge nothing but care and trouble I hate poverty equally with pain I scorn to mend myself by halves I write my book for few men and for few years Justice als takes cognisance of those who glean after the reaper Known evil was ever more supportable than one that was, new Laws (of Plato on travel), which forbids it after threescore Liberty and laziness, the qualities most predominant in me Liberty of poverty Liberty to lean, but not to lay our whole weight upon others Little affairs most disturb us Men as often commend as undervalue me beyond reason Methinks I promise it, if I but say it My mind is easily composed at distance Neither be a burden to myself nor to any other No use to this age, I throw myself back upon that other Nothing falls where all falls Nothing presses so hard upon a state as innovation Obstinate in growing worse Occupy our thoughts about the general, and about universal cause One may regret better times, but cannot fly from the present Opposition and contradiction entertain and nourish them Our qualities have no title but in comparison Preferring the universal and common tie to all national ties Proceed so long as there shall be ink and paper in the world Satisfied and pleased with and in themselves Settled my thoughts to live upon less than I have Some wives covetous indeed, but very few that are good managers That looks a nice well-made shoe to you There can be no pleasure to me without communication Think myself no longer worth my own care Tis for youth to subject itself to common opinions Tis more laudable to obey the bad than the good Titles of my chapters do not always comprehend the whole matter Travel with not only a necessary, but a handsome equipage Turn up my eyes to heaven to return thanks, than to crave Weigh, as wise: men should, the burden of obligation What sort of wine he liked the best: "That of another" What step ends the near and what step begins the remote When I travel I have nothing to care for but myself Wise man to keep a curbing hand upon the impetus of friendship World where loyalty of one's own children is unknown Wretched and dangerous thing to depend upon others You have lost a good captain, to make of him a bad general

Dec 2002 The Essays of Montaigne, V18, 1877, Cotton [MN#18][mn18v10.txt]3598 BOOK THE THIRD.--CHAP. X. to XII. X. Of Managing the Will. XI. Of Cripples. XII. Of Physiognomy.

A man should abhor lawsuits as much as he may A person's look is but a feeble warranty Accept all things we are not able to refute Admiration is the foundation of all philosophy Advantageous, too, a little to recede from one's right All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice Apt to promise something less than what I am able to do As if anything were so common as ignorance Authority of the number and antiquity of the witnesses Best test of truth is the multitude of believers in a crowd Books have not so much served me for instruction as exercise Books of things that were never either studied or understood Condemn the opposite affirmation equally Courageous in death, not because his soul is immortal--Socrates Death conduces more to birth and augmentation than to loss Decree that says, "The court understands nothing of the matter Deformity of the first cruelty makes me abhor all imitation Enters lightly into a quarrel is apt to go as lightly out of it Establish this proposition by authority and huffing Extend their anger and hatred beyond the dispute in question Fabric goes forming and piling itself up from hand to hand Fortune heaped up five or six such-like incidents Hard to resolve a man's judgment against the common opinions Haste trips up its own heels, fetters, and stops itself He cannot be good, seeing he is not evil even to the wicked He who stops not the start will never be able to stop the course "How many things," said he, "I do not desire!" How much easier is it not to enter in than it is to get out I am a little tenderly distrustful of things that I wish I am no longer in condition for any great change I am not to be cuffed into belief I am plain and heavy, and stick to the solid and the probable I do not judge opinions by years I ever justly feared to raise my head too high I would as willingly be lucky as wise If I stand in need of anger and inflammation, I borrow it If they hear no noise, they think men sleep Impose them upon me as infallible Inconveniences that moderation brings (in civil war) Lend himself to others, and only give himself to himself Let not us seek illusions from without and unknown "Little learning is needed to form a sound mind" --Seneca Long toleration begets habit; habit, consent and imitation Men are not always to rely upon the personal confessions Merciful to the man, but not to his wickedness--Aristotle Miracles and strange events have concealed themselves from me My humour is no friend to tumult Nosegay of foreign flowers, having furnished nothing of my own Not believe from one, I should not believe from a hundred Nothing is so supple and erratic as our understanding Number of fools so much exceeds the wise Opinions we have are taken on authority and trust Others adore all of their own side Pitiful ways and expedients to the jugglers of the law Prepare ourselves against the preparations of death Profession of knowledge and their immeasurable self-conceit Quiet repose and a profound sleep without dreams Reasons often anticipate the effect Refusin to justify, excuse, or explain myself Remotest witness knows more about it than those who were nearest Restoring what has been lent us, wit usury and accession Richer than we think we are; but we are taught to borrow Right of command appertains to the beautiful-Aristotle Rude and quarrelsome flatly to deny a stated fact Suffer my judgment to be made captive by prepossession Swell and puff up their souls, and their natural way of speaking Taught to be afraid of professing our ignorance The last informed is better persuaded than the first The mind grows costive and thick in growing old The particular error first makes the public error Their souls seek repose in agitation They gently name them, so they patiently endure them (diseases) Those oppressed with sorrow sometimes surprised by a smile Threats of the day of judgment Tis better to lean towards doubt than assurance--Augustine Tis no matter; it may be of use to some others To forbear doing is often as generous as to do To kill men, a clear and strong light is required Too contemptible to be punished True liberty is to be able to do what a man will with himself Vast distinction betwixt devotion and conscience We have naturally a fear of pain, but not of death What did I say? that I have? no, Chremes, I had Who discern no riches but in pomp and show Whoever will be cured of ignorance must confess it Would have every one in his party blind or a blockhead Wrong the just side when they go about to assist it with fraud Yet at least for ambition's sake, let us reject ambition

Dec 2002 The Essays of Montaigne, V19, 1877, Cotton [MN#19][mn19v10.txt]3599 BOOK THE THIRD.--CHAP. XIII. XIII. Of Experience.

A well-governed stomach is a great part of liberty Affirmation and obstinacy are express signs of want of wit Alexander said, that the end of his labour was to labour All actions equally become and equally honour a wise man As we were formerly by crimes, so we are now overburdened by law At the most, but patch you up, and prop you a little better have none at all than to have them in so prodigious a num Both kings and philosophers go to stool Cannot stand the liberty of a friend's advice Cleave to the side that stood most in need of her Condemnations have I seen more criminal than the crimes Customs and laws make justice Dignify our fopperies when we commit them to the press Diversity of medical arguments and opinions embraces all Every man thinks himself sufficiently intelligent Excuse myself from knowing anything which enslaves me to others First informed who were to be the other guests Go out of ourselves, because we know not how there to reside Got up but an inch upon the shoulders of the last, but one Hate remedies that are more troublesome than the disease itself He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears How many and many times he has been mistaken in his own judgment "I have done nothing to-day." What? have you not lived? If it be a delicious medicine, take it Intelligence is required to be able to know that a man knows not Intemperance is the pest of pleasure Language: obscure and unintelligible in wills and contracts Last death will kill but a half or a quarter of a man Law: breeder of altercation and division Laws keep up their credit, not for being just--but as laws Lay the fault on the voices of those who speak to me Learn my own debility and the treachery of my understanding Life of Caesar has no greater example for us than our own Long sittings at table both trouble me and do me harm Made all medicinal conclusions largely give way to my pleasure Man after who held out his pulse to a physician was a fool Man must learn that he is nothing but a fool More ado to interpret interpretations More books upon books than upon any other subject Never did two men make the same judgment of the same thing None that less keep their promise(than physicians) Nor get children but before I sleep, nor get them standing Nothing so grossly, nor so ordinarily faulty, as the laws Our justice presents to us but one hand Perpetual scolding of his wife (of Socrates) Physician: pass through all the diseases he pretends to cure Plato angry at excess of sleeping than at excess of drinking Plato: lawyers and physicians are bad institutions of a country Prolong your misery an hour or two Put us into a way of extending and diversifying difficulties Resolved to bring nothing to it but expectation and patience Scratching is one of nature's sweetest gratifications Seek the quadrature of the circle, even when on their wives So weak and languishing, as not to have even wishing left to him Soft, easy, and wholesome pillow is ignorance and incuriosity Study makes me sensible how much I have to learn Style wherewith men establish religions and laws Subdividing these subtilties we teach men to increase their doub That we may live, we cease to live The mean is best There is none of us who would not be worse than kings Thinking nothing done, if anything remained to be done Thinks nothing profitable that is not painful Thou diest because thou art living Tis so I melt and steal away from myself Truth itself has not the privilege to be spoken at all times Truth, that for being older it is none the wiser We must learn to suffer what we cannot evade We ought to grant free passage to diseases Whoever will call to mind the excess of his past anger Why do we not imitate the Roman architecture? Wrangling arrogance, wholly believing and trusting in itself Yet do we find any end of the need of interpretating?

Dec 2002 The Complete Essays of Montaigne, Cotton [MN#20][mn20v10.txt]3600 Entire Project Gutenberg Montaigne Letters and Essays ed. 1877

BOOK THE FIRST: I. That men by various ways arrive at the same end. II. Of Sorrow. III. That our affections carry themselves beyond us . IV. That the soul discharges her passions upon false objects, where the true are wanting. V. Whether the governor of a place besieged ought himself to go out to parley. VI. That the hour of parley is dangerous. VII. That the intention is judge of our actions VIII. Of idleness. IX. Of liars. X. Of quick or slow speech. XI. Of prognostications. XII. Of constancy. XIII. The ceremony of the interview of princes. XIV. That men are justly punished for being obstinate in the defence of a fort that is not in reason to be defended. XV. Of the punishment of cowardice. XVI. A proceeding of some ambassadors. XVII. Of fear. XVIII. That men are not to judge of our happiness till after death. XIX. That to study philosophy is to learn to die. XX. Of the force of imagination. XXI. That the profit of one man is the damage of another. XXII. Of custom, and that we should not easily change a law received . XXIII. Various events from the same counsel. XXIV. Of pedantry. XXV. Of the education of children. XXVI. That it is folly to measure truth and error by our own capacity. XXVII. Of friendship. XXVIII. Nine-and-twenty sonnets of Estienne de la Boetie. XXIX. Of moderation. XXX. Of cannibals, XXXI. That a man is soberly to judge of the divine ordinances. XXXII. That we are to avoid pleasures, even at the expense of life. XXXIII. That fortune is oftentimes observed to act by the rule of reason. XXXIV. Of one defect in our government. XXXV. Of the custom of wearing clothes XXXVI. Of Cato the Younger. XXXVII. That we laugh and cry for the same thing. XXXVIII.Of solitude. XXXIX. A consideration upon Cicero, XL. That the relish of good and evil depends in a great measure upon the opinion we have of them. XLI. Not to communicate a man's honour. XLII. Of the inequality amongst us. XLIII. Of sumptuary laws. XLIV. Of sleep. XLV. Of the battle of Dreux. XLVI. Of names. XLVII. Of the uncertainty of our judgment. XLVIII. Of war-horses, or destriers. XLIX. Of ancient customs. L. Of Democritus and Heraclitus. LI. Of the vanity of words. LII. Of the parsimony of the Ancients. LIII. Of a saying of Caesar. LIV. Of vain subtleties. LV. Of smells. LVI. Of prayers. LVII. Of age.

BOOK THE SECOND: I. Of the inconstancy of our actions. II. Of drunkenness. III. A custom of the Isle of Cea. IV. To-morrow's a new day. V. Of conscience. VI. Use makes perfect. VII. Of recompenses of honour. VIII. Of the affection of fathers to their children. IX. Of the arms of the Parthians. X. Of books. XI. Of cruelty. XII. Apology for Raimond de Sebonde (Not included) XIII. Of judging of the death of another. XIV. That the mind hinders itself. XV. That our desires are augmented by difficulty. XVI. Of glory. XVII. Of presumption. XVIII. Of giving the lie. XIX. Of liberty of conscience. XX. That we taste nothing pure. XXI. Against idleness. XXII. Of Posting. XXIII. Of ill means employed to a good end. XXIV. Of the Roman grandeur. XXV. Not to counterfeit being sick. XXVI. Of thumbs. XXVII. Cowardice the mother of cruelty. XXVIII. All things have their season. XXIX. Of virtue. XXX. Of a monstrous child. XXXI. Of anger. XXXII. Defence of Seneca and Plutarch. XXXIII. The story of Spurina. XXXIV. Observation on the means to carry on a war according to Julius Caesar. XXXV. Of three good women. XXXVI. Of the most excellent men. XXXVII. Of the resemblance of children to their fathers.

BOOK THE THIRD: I. Of Profit and Honesty. II. Of Repentance. III. Of Three Commerces. IV. Of Diversion. V. Upon Some verses of Virgil. VI. Of Coaches. VII. Of the Inconvenience of Greatness. VIII. Of the Art of Conference. IX. Of Vanity. X. Of Managing the Will. XI. Of Cripples. XII. Of Physiognomy. XIII. Of Experience.

[Inserting a few words of any of these 'Pointers' into your word processor's 'Find' or 'Search' program should take you directly to its paragraph in the text. If you get one of those irritating "Not Found" messages, try another selection of words from the bookmark--on occasion I have had to abbreviated or change the quotation so that it would fit, or the text may have a 'Hard Return' in the middle of the quotation which your 'Search' program sometimes will reject. D.W.]