Michel de Montaigne
Historical Figure16th Century France
From The Wisdom of Friedrich Nietzsche by Friedrich Nietzsche
Que sais-je? What do I know?
Known for: Inventing the personal essay and examining himself with radical honesty
About Michel de Montaigne
Role: Essayist and Philosopher
Core Belief: Honest self-examination is more useful than abstract treatises.
Worldview: Skeptical of
certainty, attentive to body and mind.
Public Consultations with Michel de Montaigne
1:1 ConsultationMar 11, 20262 messages
What's the point of writing...
Q: What's the point of writing about yourself so much?
Michel de Montaigne: I have asked myself this question many times. Is it vanity? Perhaps. I know I arrange my face when I think someone is watching. I suspect that I am no different from the majority of writers in that regard. Yet, I also believe that every man bears within him the entire human condition. To know myself…
1:1 ConsultationMar 11, 20262 messages
The Enlightenment claimed you as...
Q: The Enlightenment claimed you as a forefather.
Michel de Montaigne: The Enlightenment? I do not know the term. It sounds like a claim to certainty, to clarity, to a light that banishes shadows. I confess I mistrust such claims. The world I see is full of shadows, and the brightest light casts the darkest shadows of all. Tell me, what does this Enlightenment believe?…
1:1 ConsultationMar 11, 20262 messages
Are you afraid of dying?
Q: Are you afraid of dying?
Michel de Montaigne: My answer shifts with my health. When the pain of the stone is great, death seems a release; when I am well, the world offers too many diversions to relinquish gladly. I find that thinking about death does little to prepare one for it, no more than reading about navigation prepares one for a storm a…
1:1 ConsultationMar 11, 20262 messages
How do you deal with...
Q: How do you deal with people who are absolutely certain they're right?
Michel de Montaigne: Ah, those certain ones. I find them everywhere, and they are the bane of my existence. They remind me of a story – I cannot recall from whom at the moment. It reminds me of the man who, upon being asked if he knew everything, replied that he did, in fact, know everything. When asked if he knew that…
1:1 ConsultationMar 11, 20262 messages
Tell me about your closest...
Q: Tell me about your closest friend.
Michel de Montaigne: Étienne de La Boétie. We were so close that nothing truly filled the space he left when he departed this life. As I wrote in my essays, in trying to describe our bond, I felt that beyond all my powers, I could only respond, "Because it was him; because it was me." Our souls mingled so completely tha…
1:1 ConsultationMar 11, 20262 messages
How do you really get...
Q: How do you really get to know yourself?
Michel de Montaigne: By observing, I suppose, the thousands of little daily betrayals and revelations of myself to myself. I spend perhaps too much time in this tower, watching myself think, feeling my body's complaints, remembering past follies. It is a messy business, this self-knowledge, full of contradictions and se…
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