The Quotes canon
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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Living life to the fullest3 quotes
Whenever your life ends, it is all there. The advantage of living is not measured by length, but by use; some men have lived long, and lived little; attend to it while you are in it. It lies in your will, not in the number of years, for you to have lived enough. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Living is my job and my art. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580The value of life lies not in the length of days but in the use you make of them. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580The human condition3 quotes
Every man bears the whole stamp of the human condition. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580There is no human being on earth who is capable of declaring who he is, with certainty. No one knows what he has come to this world to do, to what his acts, feelings, ideas correspond, or what his real name is, his imperishable Name in the registry of Light. — Leon Bloy · 1912Men should be bewailed at their birth and not at their death. — Montesquieu · 1721Freedom2 quotes
Liberty is a right of doing whatever the laws permits. — Montesquieu · 1748One of the meanings of human existence, the source of human freedom, is never to accept anything as definitive, untouchable, obvious, or immobile. — Michel Foucault · 1980God2 quotes
God is on everyone's side…and, in the last analysis, he is on the side of those with plenty of money and large armies. — Jean Anouilh · 1952If triangles were to make to themselves gods, they would give them three sides. — Montesquieu · 1721Life2 quotes
Living is my job and my art. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580The value of life lies not in the length of days but in the use you make of them. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Love2 quotes
There is love, of course. And then there's life, its enemy. — Jean Anouilh · 1948You know very well that love is, above all, the gift of oneself! — Jean Anouilh · 1948Nature of man2 quotes
Truly man is a marvelously vain, diverse, and undulating object. It is hard to found any constant and uniform judgement on him. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Man, a subject which is marvelously vain, diverse, and like the waves of the sea. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Self-knowledge2 quotes
The greatest thing in the world is to know how to be oneself. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580There is no human being on earth who is capable of declaring who he is, with certainty. No one knows what he has come to this world to do, to what his acts, feelings, ideas correspond, or what his real name is, his imperishable Name in the registry of Light. — Leon Bloy · 1912Taking it easy2 quotes
Fame and tranquility can never be bedfellows. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Life is short. Work is for those who will never be able to understand life. Idleness cannot degrade a man. To the discriminating eye it differs from laziness. — Rene Maran · 1921Authenticity1 quote
The greatest thing in the world is to know how to be oneself. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Barbarism1 quote
Everyone calls barbarism what is not customary to him. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Being oneself1 quote
The greatest thing in the world is to know how to be oneself. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Being prepared1 quote
One should always have one's boots on, and be ready to leave. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Being present1 quote
Those who have likened our life to a dream were more right, by chance, than they realized. We are awake while sleeping, and waking sleep. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Birth and death1 quote
Men should be bewailed at their birth and not at their death. — Montesquieu · 1721Body and soul1 quote
The soul is the effect and instrument of a political anatomy; the soul is the prison of the body. — Michel Foucault · 1975Cats1 quote
When I play with my cat, who knows whether I do not make her more sport than she makes me? — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Children1 quote
It should be noted that children at play are not playing about; their games should be seen as their most serious-minded activity. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Citizens of the world1 quote
Not because Socrates said so, but because it is in truth my own disposition-and perchance to some excess-I look upon all men as my compatriots, and embrace a Pole as a Frenchman, making less account of the national than of the universal and common bond. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Connecting with others1 quote
If I am pressed to say why I loved him, I feel it can only be explained by replying: "Because it was he; because it was me." — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Contradictory nature of man1 quote
Truly man is a marvelously vain, diverse, and undulating object. It is hard to found any constant and uniform judgement on him. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Creativity1 quote
Bees ransack flowers here and there, but then they make honey, which is entirely theirs: it is no longer thyme or marjoram. Similarly a boy will transform and mix his borrowings. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Custom and convention1 quote
Everyone calls barbarism what is not customary to him. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Determination1 quote
The worth and value of a man is in his heart and his will; there lies his real honour. Valour is the strength, not of legs and arms, but of heart and soul. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Diversity of opinion1 quote
There were never in the world two opinions alike, any more than two hairs or two grains. Their most universal quality is diversity. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Dogma1 quote
One of the meanings of human existence, the source of human freedom, is never to accept anything as definitive, untouchable, obvious, or immobile. — Michel Foucault · 1980Doubt and skepticism1 quote
One of the meanings of human existence, the source of human freedom, is never to accept anything as definitive, untouchable, obvious, or immobile. — Michel Foucault · 1980Duality of man1 quote
I find that the best goodness I have has some tincture of vice. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Environmental destruction1 quote
Mankind has probably done more damage to the earth in the 20th century than in all of previous human history. — Jacques Cousteau · 1999Fame1 quote
Fame and tranquility can never be bedfellows. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580