The Essays of Michel De Montaigne

On the custom of wearing clothing On Cato the Younger How we weep and laugh at the same thing Reflections upon Cicero On the inequality there is between us On sumptuary laws On the Battle of Dreux On the uncertainty of our judgement On ancient customs On Democritus and Heraclitus On the vanity of words On the frugality of the Ancients On vain cunning devices On the length of life Book II 1. On the inconstancy of our actions 2. A custom of the Isle of Cea 4. On rewards for honour 8. On the affection of fathers for their children 9.

On the armour of the Parthians An apology for Raymond Sebond How our mind tangles itself up That difficulty increases desire On giving the lie On freedom of conscience We can savour nothing pure On bad means to a good end On the greatness of Rome On not pretending to be ill On cowardice, the mother of cruelty There is a season for everything On a monster-child In defence of Seneca and Plutarch The tale of Spurina On three good wives On the most excellent of men On the resemblance of children to their fathers Book III 1.

On the useful and the honourable 2. On three kinds of social intercourse 4. On some lines of Virgil 6. On high rank as a disadvantage 8. On the art of conversation 9. On restraining your will On the lame These pages contain a Universe, by which I mean a mind building things with language, and you, dear reader, are invited to navigate. Aim the bowsprit directly into the heart of the day!

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View all 18 comments. Dec 19, Lizzy rated it it was amazing Shelves: Everyone looks in front of him; as for me; I look inside myself; I have no business but with myself, I take stock of myself, I taste myself… I roll about in myself. The Complete Essays covers all kind of subjects and it is an almost eternal work in progress for me. It honestly deals with humanity itself. Montaigne is entertaining, compelling, and inclined to digression. I read Montaigne at indiscriminate ti "I turn my gaze inward, I fix it there and keep it busy. I read Montaigne at indiscriminate times and places, and under disparate moods.

If I am depressed, I look for something in it that might help me get back on my feet and keep going; if I am happy, I search for companionship. And I am often awed by him, how easy he seems. It is, for me, an ever ending source of inspiration and of pleasure. There are periods, it is true, that I forget about it altogether; but eventually I will go back and scan through its chapters looking for themes that grant me some moments of delight.

At times I read Montaigne just for thirty minutes or one hour, but never for too long for I know I will get back to it eventually. Ah, he also surprises me. I enjoyed his thoughts about women's rank in society, a puzzling mix of traditionalism and advanced-thinking, considering he lived in the 16th century: View all 20 comments. Clive James says somewhere that certain people throughout history are like ambassadors from the present stationed in the past: And this is what Montaigne has been for me since I started reading him several years ago.

He is the first person in history who strikes me as modern — or at least, the first to put that modern sense of uncertainty and existential nerviness dow Clive James says somewhere that certain people throughout history are like ambassadors from the present stationed in the past: He is the first person in history who strikes me as modern — or at least, the first to put that modern sense of uncertainty and existential nerviness down on paper, to write something that is not didactic or improving or even purely entertaining, but animated instead by curiosity, doubt, overeducated boredom, trivial irritations.

He doesn't bluster his way through his lack of knowledge, but faces it head-on with disarming cheerfulness, and his arguments themselves are not carefully structured means to approach knowledge, but rather meandering and conversational in a way that is completely unlike other writers of the time. Est-ce pas faire une muraille sans pierre, ou chose semblable, que de bastir des livres sans science et sans art?

Les fantasies de la musique sont conduictes par art, les miennes par sort. To write bookes without learning is it not to make a wall without stone or such like thing? Conceits of musicke are directed by arte, mine by hap. It's unlikely to worry any of his readers. The range of topics addressed by Montaigne is gloriously all-encompassing: And crucially, it's not just the big subjects like war, religion, diplomacy, the Classical tradition.

It's also the minor stuff, the kind of things that you worry about in the bath — how annoying it is to have to get up early, whether people should talk over dinner or just shut up and eat, what to wear in bed. Like men through history, he frets that he can't last long enough during sex and that his cock is too small — but unlike Horace or the Earl of Rochester, he doesn't write grandiose poetry on the subject, he just moans about it in humdrum, day-to-day prose.

You come to realise there is no issue he won't write about. Of course that frankness, that ruthless self-analysis, means that when he does come to the big subjects he's often totally riveting. I loved reading his thoughts on religion, which are incredibly undogmatic and open-minded given the context of sixteenth-century Europe. In Book II, chapter 12 — one of the longest essays and often printed separately — he ostensibly sets out to defend Christianity, but in his clear-sighted assessment of the arguments against religion he articulates intelligent agnosticism better than many atheists.

Following his mind through these arguments is quite a thrill. He also comments on current events, of all kinds. After France adopts the Gregorian calendar in December , he takes the time to write irritably on the missing eleven days a circumstance which leads him, via a typically Montanian series of tangents, to end up discussing the merits of sex with the disabled.

And his thoughts on the Spanish conquest of the Americas — the full details of which were still then emerging — make for a welcome reminder that not everyone at the time was gung-ho about the excesses of the colonial project. Who ever raised the service of marchandize and benefit of traffick to so high a rate? So many goodly citties ransacked and raged; so many nations destroyed and made desolate; so infinite millions of harmelesse people of all sexes, states and ages, massacred, ravaged and put to the sword; and the richest, the fairest and the best part of the world topsiturvied, ruined and defaced for the traffick of Pearles and Pepper.

Oh mechanicall victories, oh base conquest. Never did greedy revenge, publik wrongs or generall enmities, so moodily enrage and so passionately incense men against men, unto so horrible hostilities, bloody dissipation, and miserable calamities. On gender relations he offers an intriguing mix of traditionalism and forward-thinking. He makes frequent off-hand remarks about the place of women which seem to suggest that he is pretty representative of his time — commenting, for instance, that if women want to read they should confine themselves to theology and a little poetry — but then at other times he can be amazingly progressive.

His sympathy for those who do not fit patriarchal expectations shows that he grasps the fundamental point: Les femmes n'ont pas tort du tout quand elles refusent les reigles de vie qui sont introduites au monde, d'autant que ce sont les hommes qui les ont faictes sans elles.

The Essays of Michel de Montaigne, by Michel de Montaigne

Women are not altogether in the wrong, when they refuse the rules of life prescribed to the World, forsomuch as onely men have established them without their consent. In the end, although he can't stop himself feeling instinctively that a woman's role is different from a man's, he recognises that much of this is down to social pressures, and his simple conclusion is in some ways centuries ahead of its time: At first this was a surprise to me as I flicked between them, but it's a good illustration of the fact that English has changed a lot more in four hundred years than French has.

Many were the times that I turned to the Middle French to illuminate what seemed an obscure passage in my native language.

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It's only when you read the original — c'est assez de tramper nos plumes en ancre, sans les tramper en sang — that you realise Florio's first comma is the fulcrum on which two perfectly-balanced halves of the sentence pivot. Take another look at the very end of that quote on the conquest of Mexico, above. One final example will make my point: Pour le destruire, on cerche un champ spacieux en pleine lumiere; pour le construire, on se musse dans un creux tenebreux et contraint. Each one avoideth to see a man borne, but all runne hastily to see him dye. To destroy him we seeke a spacious field and a full light, but to construct him we hide our selves in some darke corner and worke as close as we may.

It is our dutie to conceale our selves in making him; it is our glory, and the originall of many vertues to destroy him being framed. The French is precisely assembled, and Florio ignores the precision entirely. Where Montaigne is a Rolls-Royce engine, Florio is a cartoon jetpack. Where Florio fails to capture his source is precisely where he best represents the allusive, poly-synonymous essence of his own native tradition.

Well, I won't push that any further, and Montaigne himself would doubtless have disagreed.

There is no age but saith as much of hirs. For those curious about Florio, the NYRB has published a selection of his versions of the Essays under the intensely irritating title of Shakespeare's Montaigne , though neither Montaigne nor Florio need Shakespeare's coat-tails to ride on — and anyway, apart from one famous bit in The Tempest , the evidence for Shakespeare's having read Florio is not very exciting.

In the end though, whatever language you read Montaigne in, his humaneness and his sympathy will stay with you. By the time he writes the final volume he is at the end of his life, and his tone has not become bitter or regretful in the least. Everywhere he shows a desire to find a middle way between the intellectual and the physical, the elevated and the practical, which I find extremely cheering. He invented an entire genre, but no one has achieved greater effects with it than he did himself.

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Avez vous sceu mediter et manier vostre vie? Pour se montrer et exploicter nature n'a que faire de fortune: Hee hath passed his life in idleness, say we; alas! I have done nothing this day. What, have you not lived? It is not only the fundamentall, but the noblest of your occupation. For a man to shew and exploit himselfe nature hath no neede of fortune; she equally shewes herselfe upon all grounds, in all sutes, before and behinde, as it were without curteines, welt, or gard. Have you knowne how to compose your manners?

Have you knowne how to take rest?

View all 30 comments. May 30, Roy Lotz rated it it was amazing Shelves: It would have to be. But here Montaigne managed to do something that has eluded the greatest of our modern science: Montaigne lives and breathes in these pages, just as much as he would if he'd been cryogentically frozen and brought back to life before your eyes.

Working your way through this book is a little like starting a relationship. But eventually the exhilaration wears off. You begin looking for other books, missing the thrill of first love. But what Montaigne lacks in bells and whistles, he more than compensates for with his constant companionship. You learn about the intimacies of his eating habits and bowel movements, his philosophy of sex as well as science, his opinion on doctors and horsemanship.

He lets it all hang out. And after a long and stressful day, you know Montaigne will be waiting on your bedside table to tell you a funny anecdote, to have easygoing conversation, or to just pass the time. This book took me a grand total of six months to read. I would dip into it right before bed—just a few pages. Sometimes, I tried to spend more time on the essays, but I soon gave it up. He has no attention span for longwinded arguments or extended exposition. As a result, whenever I tried to spend an hour on his writing, I got bored.

Plus, burning your way through this book would ruin the experience of it. This is a very perceptive comment. For me, there was something quasi-religious in the ritual of reading a few pages of this book right before bed—night after night after night. For everything Montaigne lacks in intelligence, patience, diligence, and humility, he makes up for with his exquisite sanity. I can find no other word to describe it. Dipping into his writing is like dipping a bucket into a deep well of pure, blissful sanity. Montaigne makes the pursuit of living a reasonable life into high art. For Montaigne, self-knowledge is the key to knowledge of the human condition.

Montaigne is a Skeptic one moment, an Epicurean another, a Stoic still another, and finally a Christian. You may take pride in a definition of yourself—a communist, a musician, a vegan—but no simple label ever comes close to pinning down the chaotic stream that is human life. We hold certain principles near and dear one moment, and five minutes later these principles are forgotten with the smell of lunch.

The most dangerous people, it seems, are those that do try to totalize themselves under one heading or one creed. How do you reason with a person like that? Now I can move on to another bedside book. But if I ever feel myself drifting towards radicalism, extremism, or if I start to think abstract arguments are more important than the real stuff of human life, I will return to my old friend Montaigne. This is a book that could last you a lifetime. View all 16 comments.

Apr 19, Julia rated it it was amazing Shelves: I kind of half jokingly refer to this book as "the introverts bible". Certainly a must read, especially for those of us who live a more contemplative life. The Essays are moving and funny, edifying, and at times very sad. Montaigne's observations range from the very specific and particular to the huge and universal. I don't always agree with what he says, but I am engaged nonetheless. I feel as I read this book that I'm always in conversation with him. I know I will be reading and re-reading The I kind of half jokingly refer to this book as "the introverts bible".

I know I will be reading and re-reading The Essays throughout the course of my whole life. I know that my understanding for them will deepen and change. Montaigne himself continued to edit the essays until his death. This sort of journey is much of what the book is about It is wholly accessible while at the same time maintaining the humor and beauty of Montaigne's words. Dec 07, Szplug rated it it was amazing. Montaigne is one of my all-time favorite dudes - truly a bridge between eras and endowed with enough sagacity and wisdom to guide a nation. Wonderful and warm humanity and sparklingly sere humor, but he can chuck 'em, too: Thanks to a screw-up by the company I ordered Screech's translation from I received two copies - one for my desk at the office, one for the table beside Montaigne is one of my all-time favorite dudes - truly a bridge between eras and endowed with enough sagacity and wisdom to guide a nation.

Thanks to a screw-up by the company I ordered Screech's translation from I received two copies - one for my desk at the office, one for the table beside my bed at home. At work or at rest, Montaigne leads you true. BTW - if the entire collection of essays seems too daunting a challenge, or too heavy to comfortably hold, there's an abridgement with an outstandingly smooth and literary translation by J. Cohen - perhaps more elegant than Screech's, more suave, but with all the edges sanded and hence less true to le Gros Guyennoise.

View all 7 comments. Una muestra de las ideas con las que este autor ha poblado nuestro firmamento intelectual: Casi todo se ha trastocado en cinco siglos: La propia lengua ha evolucionado enormemente creando nuevas palabras y nuevos significados y conceptos. Jun 06, Florencia marked it as to-read Shelves: A Montaigne essay a day keeps the doctor away. Chi puo dir com'egli arde e in picciol fuoco — [He who can describe how his heart is ablaze is burning on a small pyre] Petrarch, Sonnet Our emotions get carried away beyond us 4.

How the soul discharges its emotions against false objects when lacking real ones 5. Whether the A Montaigne essay a day keeps the doctor away. Whether the governor of a besieged fortress should go out and parley 6. The hour of parleying is dangerous 7. That our deeds are judged by the intention 8. Variam semper dant otia mentis [Idleness always produces fickle changes of mind] Lucan, Pharsalia, IV, Ceremonial at the meeting of kings That the taste of good and evil things depends in large part on the opinion we have of them One is punished for stubbornly defending a fort without a good reason On punishing cowardice The doings of certain ambassadors That we should not be deemed happy till after our death To philosophize is to learn how to die On the power of the imagination On educating children That it is madness to judge the true and the false from our own capacities On affectionate relationships On the Cannibals Something lacking in our civil administrations On the custom of wearing clothing On Cato the Younger How we weep and laugh at the same thing Reflections upon Cicero On the inequality there is between us On sumptuary laws On the Battle of Dreux On the uncertainty of our judgement On ancient customs On Democritus and Heraclitus On the vanity of words On the frugality of the Ancients On vain cunning devices On the inconstancy of our actions 2.

A custom of the Isle of Cea 4. On rewards for honour 8. On the affection of fathers for their children 9. On the armour of the Parthians An apology for Raymond Sebond How our mind tangles itself up That difficulty increases desire On giving the lie On freedom of conscience We can savour nothing pure On bad means to a good end On the greatness of Rome On not pretending to be ill On cowardice, the mother of cruelty There is a season for everything On a monster-child In defence of Seneca and Plutarch The tale of Spurina On three good wives On the most excellent of men On the useful and the honourable 2.

On three kinds of social intercourse 4. On some lines of Virgil 6. On high rank as a disadvantage 8. On the art of conversation 9. On restraining your will On the lame View all 4 comments. Jul 23, David Sarkies rated it really liked it Recommends it for: People who love philosophical ramblings. A French aristocrat shares his personal opinions 6 January Normally I would wait until I have finished a book to write a commentary, however this book is a lot different in that is contains a large collection of essays on a multiple of subjects.

Secondly, I have not been reading this book continually, but rather picking it up, reading a few essays, and then putting it down again. I originally read a selection of these essays but when I finished it I decided to get my hands on a complete vers A French aristocrat shares his personal opinions 6 January Normally I would wait until I have finished a book to write a commentary, however this book is a lot different in that is contains a large collection of essays on a multiple of subjects.

I originally read a selection of these essays but when I finished it I decided to get my hands on a complete version, preferably hardcover, and it has been sitting next to my bed for the last two years and I am only up to the second book of essays as of this writing — in fact I have only written comments on essays from two of the books. This, as I mentioned, is a complete collection, however it is an older translation by John Florio, a contemporary of Montainge, which means that the English is quite archaic, though still quite readable.

The only thing that stands out is the spelling and since there was no real standardised spelling back then, this is understandable. Florio was also a contemporary of Shakespeare, so marking Florio down because of his spelling is sort of like doing the same with Shakespeare and English has evolved a lot since then. Anyway, this post is actually quite long, in fact longer than what Goodreads allows me to post, so instead of spilling over into the comments, I have instead decided to post the commentary in my blog which also allows for better presentation that Goodreads, though not by much since it is Blogger — I hope to go over to Wordpress sometime soon, but due to time commitments I am not able to at this stage.

View all 3 comments. Sep 25, Jack rated it really liked it Shelves: I think of Shakespeare, his fame and endurance, and although I am not one to suggest his work doesn't deserve the centrality in the English canon where it sits, I wonder precisely what qualities afford him a seemingly guaranteed immortality. I don't want to think about his poetic skill or his mastery of characterization. Instead, I find it intriguing that the authorship question still has such ground for conversation, if not quite academic relevancy. We don't know Shakespeare the man as much as I think of Shakespeare, his fame and endurance, and although I am not one to suggest his work doesn't deserve the centrality in the English canon where it sits, I wonder precisely what qualities afford him a seemingly guaranteed immortality.

We don't know Shakespeare the man as much as we'd like; our debt in our English phraseology resides in a distant paternal figure. The mystery frustrates and compels us - no author today will have the luxury of being so important and yet so unknown. If we knew even a fraction of Shakespeare's aesthetic theory or personal philosophy it would do more harm to his legacy than anything else.

We appreciate his art as something timeless because the artist beholden to his own time doesn't truly exist. I know little about Shakespeare the man, and now, so much about Montaigne, part of me can't help but believe their characters were likely quite similar. Montaigne's essays are all Montaigne, all the time. He insists upon himself, and he cannot escape himself. If you've ever engaged in personal writing in any form you have something in common with Montaigne. I write these reviews, and keep a diary, and occasionally try to write fiction - that order is the order of the difficulty in composition.

I have my subject in these reviews - the book - and have no further obligations beyond composing my brief impression of the text. When I write for myself, on myself, I find the words come naturally but the desire to probe further strained and painful. I break into self-pitying asides - look at that sentence! Surely I could've written something better than that! Surely I have a firm enough grasp of language at this stage my vocabulary can adequately express the reality of my emotion at this very moment? Why is there no poetry to my honesty? Are my thoughts - the atoms of my being - as ugly as my words make them appear?

With writing honestly about myself proving such a burden, it follows that exploring myself and lifting fiction from the depths of experience is harder still. Montaigne writes in a fluid, articulate and sometimes frustratingly casual way about those very concerns. When the subject of one's writing is themselves, the difficulty is not in where to start but where to finish - what conclusions to make of oneself. Perhaps it is a mental illness not to eventually abandon introspective writing in a fit of shame and embarrassment.

Contemporary society in all its propagation of technology is certainly gifted in its ability to provide pain relief for the ego. In the early Church, despair was among the deadly sins we know so well. Just because the word 'sin' no longer collocates with despair doesn't mean it is any less destructive than the others. Montaigne is the definition of a 'constant companion'. His writing is friendly, appropriately scattering through trivial and fundamental topics of conversation, and he never seems to change. His attitudes to life and death are not really much altered from Book I to Book III - he considers everything and doesn't change his mind.

He can be as maddening as he is agreeable - his intense usage of quotes from antiquity never lets up, and it can get a little tiresome engaging with someone who seems to justify everything with Aristotle or Plutarch, even if he's contradicting himself in a previous essay. I also think he's a better read in short bursts than in sustained dialogue.

Book III wearied me as he tended to trade quantity for fewer long-form essays, without altering his extremely digressive mode of thinking. The subjects of his essays do occasionally clash with their content. I think Montaigne is an essential read for anyone, but not his entire oeuvre. What you see is what you get. Dip into this book like you would read scattered articles that catch your eye in a newspaper.

Montaigne's humanity is the core of his prose. Befriend him, visit him occasionally, cease contact if he grows annoying, then come back when you recall the good memories you shared. I give him four stars now, but our relations will undoubtedly improve. Don't read all of Montaigne in a year, and then never again.

He's a constant companion. Read every-so-often for all time. Aug 15, Jim Coughenour rated it it was amazing Shelves: I've been skipping my way around Montaigne's superb Essays this summer. This is possibly the best bedside book ever — or if you're a morning person, an excellent companion for a leisurely cup of coffee. Written almost years ago, these essays are as fresh as tomorrow.

Montaigne is always ahead of us. His genuinely compassionate, restless and skeptical mind never flags in its humanistic curiosity — and his quiet observations and tentative conclusions will shock even the most jaded reader with a I've been skipping my way around Montaigne's superb Essays this summer. His genuinely compassionate, restless and skeptical mind never flags in its humanistic curiosity — and his quiet observations and tentative conclusions will shock even the most jaded reader with a sense of discovery and delight.

I grew up with Donald Frame translation, but I much prefer this unsanitized version by M A Screech which comes in a handsome if hefty Penguin edition , as Montaigne could get right to the point when required: Les Roys et les philosophes fientent, et les dames aussie. Kings and philosophers shit; and so do ladies. Wisdom rarely comes so unadorned. Jul 21, Alan rated it it was amazing. Inventer--and perfecter--of the "trial composition," essayer. None better, after four centuries, though we have improved lying through essays. We call it "news": Jan 06, Marc rated it really liked it Shelves: I admire Montaigne's honesty and straightforwardness.

He observes daily live and especially his own behavior. The extensive use of latin citations as was common use by humanists of that time was irritating at first, but I got used to it. From a historical point of view his longer essay "Apology for Raymond Sebond" was very interesting; in it Montaigne pointedly acknowledges the limitations of reason. My only doubt about this book is that Montaigne kind of propagates mediocraty a bit too much.

For him that was in line with the very popular stoicism of his time. Feb 20, Janet rated it it was amazing Shelves: He was the first writer, certainly the first philosopher, who talked about personal experience of living in the body, with a great generosity of spirit towards the flaws of the human being. He's companionable, he makes you feel that being human is a noble and worthwhile thing, even if you're sick or grumpy or overwhelmed with your own failures.

People should throw out all their self-help books and stick with Montaigne. Oct 16, David rated it it was amazing. Michel de Montaigne — is famous for shutting himself away in a book-lined tower in and assaying his thoughts and opinions, essentially attempting to discover what, if anything, he really knew about himself and the human condition.

Descartes attempted the same sort of venture in in his three Discourses, prefaced by his celebrated Discourse on Method, in which his starting point was that all he knew for certain was that he existed, and systematically climbed his way out of a Michel de Montaigne — is famous for shutting himself away in a book-lined tower in and assaying his thoughts and opinions, essentially attempting to discover what, if anything, he really knew about himself and the human condition.

Descartes attempted the same sort of venture in in his three Discourses, prefaced by his celebrated Discourse on Method, in which his starting point was that all he knew for certain was that he existed, and systematically climbed his way out of a pit of epistemological doubt. Montaigne's Essays, being a catalogue of his sober reflections on everything under the sun, began as a self-help cure for a bout of melancholy, and flowered in all directions, in the manner of Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy in the next century.

These were all men of the European Renaissance, and we can see in them the effects of the collapse of medieval certainties, the growing pains as the modern world struggled to throw off the fetters of centuries of dogmatism and restricted intellectual freedoms. The word Essais has two meanings in French, as the work of an apprentice, and as an assay in the chemical sense as applied to character, namely an analysis of the writer, the plumbing of his personality and constituent parts.

The Complete Essays

Montaigne is analysing himself, but is not claiming to have produced his masterpiece. The Essays were originally arranged into two books, though a third one followed later as his ideas developed and proliferated. Each book contains many chapters, each of which in turn contains many assays.

They are strewn with quotations from the Latin poets, for Latin was the language he was most at ease with. The original intention seems to have been to write a history of ideas, mainly referring to the ancients, but as he wrote about Socrates and other thinkers and compared them with his own opinions and convictions, he gradually came to realise that what he was really doing was studying himself, Michel de Montaigne, and obeying the injunction of the Delphic Oracle, Know Thyself.

With a background in diplomacy and public service he was twice elected Mayor of Bordeaux , Montaigne considered himself a gentleman rather than a scholar, and prized honest inquiry above word play and displays of showy verbosity. So there is in his Essays a strong sense of someone honestly probing into what man really is, and looking for advice concerning how to live and die. The complete Essays is a very thick volume almost 1, pages in the translation for Penguin Classics by MA Screech.

The chapters are not arranged in their order of composition, and various consecutive entries within them were written at widely different times but were left undated. Recent translators and editors have introduced paragraphs, references and punctuation to make the work more digestible for modern taste and the result is a work of endless fascination to anyone with an interest in self knowledge and human nature.

Montaigne has been an excellent companion during my yard work and gardening chores this spring. The Audible book is based on the Frame translation - some people complain about it because Frame does not use Montaigne's original quotations just the English translation while Screech provides the original quotation, plus the English translation. For listening, Frame is great, and both editions are pretty similar to me, as I know no French, Greek, and just a few altar boy Latin words. The Screech Montaigne has been an excellent companion during my yard work and gardening chores this spring.

The Screech book is almost pages longer due to these original and translated "borrowings". Montaigne quotes a lot - he is a Renaissance man well versed in Greek and Roman writers, and lived just before Shakespeare, and most science or "enlightenment. The question he is really asking is "What do I know for certain? He concludes that he - and other men - know very little. No matter who he quotes, he often quotes an equal contradictory view. All he can know, if he works hard enough, and is disciplined, is to know himself.

He is the world's foremost expert on Montaigne. Listening to all these essays, usually in 2 or three hour blocks, was a great experience, and the yard looks pretty good. Plenty of rain this year. I am proofreading this book in French through Free Literature , published by Librarie de Paris, The original file was provided by Internet Arquive. Mar 24, William2 rated it it was amazing Shelves: But, like I have found of most things, the longer ones are the best.

They are not just a series of essays about various topics, philosophical or otherwise. Montaigne writes in a discursive manner, which I personally loved. It reads as very down-to-earth, very conversational. He is very good at adding a human touch to matters great and small.