Essays of Michel De Montaigne Collaboration Notes (In Order Of Book 1-3)

Collaborating Note takers in Action:

Erica Paculan (Erica's Blog) Book 1: 1-37
Guadalupe Pliego (Guadalupe's Blog) Book 1&2: 36-11
Jayce Alegre Book 2: 12-17
Yesenia Beas (Yesenia's Blog) Book 2&3: 18-5
Susel Garcia (Susel's Blog) Book 3: 6-Of Experience

• We reach the same end by discrepant means:
• Chapter talks about war and history (subject to noblemen) → the unpredictable reactions of men and the chaos of war
• He mentions the effect of showing “submissiveness” in order to appear pitiful and pathetic when offending someone to the point of vengeance; BUT so did bravery and courageousness [he cited Conrad III]
• Examples listed included:
• Edward, Prince of Wales: showed mercy on the people of a town he took by force due only to the three French noblemen who bravely stood before him in defiance (impressed by their courage)
• Scanderbeg, Prince of Epirus: pardoned a soldier he was going to kill because the soldier showed submissiveness
• His reaction to the cited work of Conrad III showed him susceptible to both means (bravery and submissiveness) stating his weakness of clemency and mercy → compassion over respect
• pity an effect of “softness and gentleness” thus women, children, and common people (weaker ones) are more susceptible to pity
• On Sadness:
• Shows Montaigne’s concern with ecstasies produced by strong emotions and his impatience with sadness which sought to ape the abstracted, pensive depths of melancholy genius
• Montaigne is free of “sadness,” neither liking it nor thinking well of it even though the world honors it (virtue, wisdom, and conscience all abide through it); he believes sadness to be wicked (harmful and mad quality)
• Psammenitus, King of Egypt showed no emotions when he saw his daughter walk in front of him as a servant → showed grief only when his friend was brought amongst the captives
• “Only the last of these misfortunes can be expressed by tears, the first two are way beyond any means of expression” (why he showed grief to a friend, but not to his children)
• Force of sadness petrifies the soul, impending freedom of action
• Our emotions get carried away beyond us:
• Many examples rooted in war; man’s struggles about the thought of his body after death; Montaigne insists that a human being only exists when body and soul are conjoined
• “We  are never ‘at home’: we are always outside ourselves” → fear, hope, and desire drives us towards the future; they hold us captive of thoughts about the future
• whoever knows himself never considers external things to be his (he loves and cultivates himself, rejecting any concerns about the future)
• people owe subordination and obedience to kings, but people owe esteem and affection only to their virtue

• How the soul discharges its emotions against false objects when lacking real ones:
• “Soul” here includes all aspects of the human personality not strictly corporeal (relating to one’s body); Montaigne is concerned with irrational bursts of choler (anger or irascibility) which are vented in wrath directed against inanimate or guiltless objects and sweep over great generals
• Our mind, spirit → prone to be irrational as well as refractory to right rule
•  Putting something to blame when tortured with physical illness helps ease the pain
• The soul is similar → as it loses itself in itself when shaken and disturbed unless giving something else to keep it at bay
• Animals carried away by anger → they attack the thing that has wounded them or take vengeance by giving themselves pain
• Whether the governor of a besieged fortress should go out and parley:
• Arose from Montaigne’s reflections on his reading of Renaissance French and Italian historians in the light of his own experience of war
• one of the first he wrote in the beginning of his enterprise →
• appear to have been intended mainly as a gentleman’s thoughts on matters military and political
• King of Macedonia (war against Perseus), Roman legate Lucius Marcius spread hints of agreements which bluffed the king into agreeing in a truce for a couple of days
• “Trickery or valour: what does it matter between enemies”
• Parley → a conference between opposing sides of a dispute, agreeing for a term
• The hour of parleying is dangerous:
• Montaigne wrote this when the Siege of Mussidan (1569) was fresh in his mind
• → Mussidan less than twenty miles from Montaigne
• always hazardous decision to trust good pleasure of a victorious army to keep the promises made to a surrendered town
• surrendered through generous and favourable terms, allow free entry to heated soldiery
• Cleomenes believed → no matter the infliction caused to the enemy during a war, the action is always above the law
• Alexander the Great → “Certainly not. I am not the man to thieve a victory and then follow it up!”
• That our deeds are judged by the intention:
• End of the chapter was written just before Montaigne died → routine thoughts about motive into a personal declaration
• Montaigne intended his death to be morally at one with his life
• “Death settles all obligations”
• King Henry VII of England  made an agreement with Don Felipe → Don Felipe is to hand over King Henry’s enemy in return of King Henry’s promise to not take the Duke’s life (his enemy)
• King Henry VII still ordered his son to kill the Duke as he lay dying
• It is “valueless” to fix a date for a vengence without cost or feeling → the more burdensome the payment the more just the atonement
• On idleness:
• Started to tame melancholic delusions induced by Montaigne’s withdrawal to his estate’s when his thoughts galloped away
• Rich and Fertile lands → seen to abound exist in large quantities of useless weeds
• In order to make them work, one must subdue them and keep them busy with seeds
• If unable to keep them busy with work they charge ungovernably about
• A soul without a definite aim gets lost → if you are everywhere you are nowhere
• On liars:
• A liar had better have good memory → thus Montaigne’s concern with memory before turning to lying
• An immoral deed loathed particularly by gentlemen and even Montaigne would discourage diplomatists
• His world → a “man without memory” is a stupid man; Montaigne complains about his “defective” memory, accusing himself of being stupid
• Experience shows the contradictory:
• → an outstanding memory is often associated with weak judgement
• He argues that a poor memory is evil that has enabled him to have ambition
• Bad memory is intolerable defect for anyone concerned in worldly affairs
• Lying is an accursed vice → only our words that bind us together and make us human
• It is more worthy of the stake than other crimes; a lie that only has one face would equal better terms
• On a ready or hesitant delivery:
• He considers ‘readiness’ to speak in public, both in speaking easily and ready with a prepared text; senses are contained in the Latin word promptus which lies behind his French term for ‘ready’ speech
• Some have “prompt” facilities → easily able to get their words out and are always ready everywhere
• Others are hesitant → never speak without thinking and working it out beforehand
• It is a man’s wit to act readily and quickly → the property of the judgement is to be slow and poised
• He knows that the kind of character gets nowhere unless allowed to live free and happily
• A soul worrying about doing well will be held at bay
• → This same character is not driven and spurred on by strong passions
• On Prognostications:
• Christianity has banished most forms of prognostication (telling a prophecy); those that remain are the sport of subtle credulous minds who could find hidden meanings anywhere
• Oracles had begun to lose their credit before Jesus Christ → Cicero tries to find the cause of their decline\
• Other prognostications were derived from dissection of sacrificial animals
• Man = happy and master of himself
• Those who understand the language of the birds and the livers of animals better than their own should just listen rather than pay attention
• On Constancy:
• Constancy is a Stoic virtue; Stoics have to confess that a Safe can be startled; Montaigne considers the limits of Stoic doctrine → basing himself partly on own experience in the Wars of Religion
• Resolution and constancy = don’t lay down as law that we protect ourselves, as long as it lies in our power
• Contradiction → all honourable means of protecting oneself are not licit (lawful), but laudable (deserving praise)
• Warlike nations, many, included flight as main tactical resources → turning backs equaled more risk to the enemy than when they showed their face
• Ceremonial at the meeting of kings;
• Montaigne considers his essays as ‘rhapsodie’ (a confused medley of disparate, different, pieces strung together)
• Queen Margaret of Navarre asserts that it is impolite for a nobleman to leave his house
• it is more civil and more respectful to wait
• Normal rule governing all interviews → behove the lesser to arrive (behove:  a duty or responsibility for someone to do something)
• That the taste of good and evil things depends in large part on the opinion we have of them:
• Old Greek saying by Epictetus  → men tormented not by things themselves but by what they think about them
• Proven true would comfort our wretched human condition; ills entered through our judgement would allow us to either despise them or deflect them towards good
• Things we call evil or torment are only evil/torment if our mental apprehension endows them with those qualities
• Our main enemies → death, poverty, and pain
• Death, “dreadest of all dreadful things,” is the only heaven from life’s torments
• the natural sovereign goods, only guarantor of freedom, the common and ready cure of all ills
• Not able to find our principal happiness is the cause of our impatience in suffering; the body knows only differences in degree:
• Otherwise it is one uniform disposition
• On punishing cowardice:
• Reasonable that we should make great difference between defects due to own weakness and those due to wickedness
• The latter, wickedness, deliberately brace ourselves against reason’s rules, imprinted on us by Nature
• The former, we can call Nature herself as a defence-witness for leaving us weak and imperfect
• Thus it is believed that we can only be punished for deeds done against our conscience
• Cowardice is to be punished via disgrace and ignominy (public shame)
• The doings of certain ambassadors:
• War and diplomacy (noble subjects) dominate the chapter; topics such as how to read history are introduced
• In order to learn something from occasional travels one must always bring those with whom they are talking back to the subjects they know best
• The reverse usually happens → everyone chooses to orate about another’s job rather than their own
• Reading history:
• Montaigne turns his attention to the authors:
• Persons with writing as their only profession → learn points of style and language
• Doctors → believe them when they are talking about the climate, health and humours of princes, wounds and illnesses
• On fear:
• Montaigne discusses fear, in the light of his own experience in war, partly from exempla; he sees it as often leading to bad, ecstatic behaviour: classes as a case of rapture or of madness
• Fear is a very odd emotion; it is the emotion that readily ravishes our judgement from its proper seat  →
• men can be driven out of their minds by fear   
• fear engenders even the most respectable men
• it sometimes conjures up visions of great-grandsires rising out of graves, of monsters and werewolves
• That we should not be deemed happy till after our death:
• A preoccupation with death expected from melancholics: Montaigne’s case was heightened by the deaths of La Boetie and his own father, as well as the Wars of Religion
• ‘Death’ considered in the act of dying not as the state of the soul in the after-life
• It is concern of philosophy not religion
• Montaigne looked to see how its end was borne when judging another’s life; his main concern for his own → be borne well, in a quiet and muted manner
• To philosophize is to learn how to die:
• Cicero says that philosophy is nothing but getting ready to die; study and contemplation draws out the souls of the people
• Our ultimate aim, even in virtue, is pleasure → it means the most delight and an exceeding happiness, the best companion to virtue
• Pleasurable for being lively, taut, robust and virile (having strength)
• There is happiness and blessedness radiating from virtue → virtue’s main gift’s is to contempt for death
• furnishing life with easy tranquility, pure and friendly taste
• Nature lends us a hand and gives us courage; if death is violent and short → no time to be afraid
• It robs us of our sense of loss and decline
• On the power of the imagination:
• The credit given to miracles, visions, enchantments and other extraordinary events derives from the power of the imagination acting on the souls of the common people
• Common people’s capacity to believe has been ravished → they think they see what they cannot see
• Amasis, King of Egypt married Laodice ( beautiful Grecian maiden); incapable of lying to her, he believed her to be a witch thus threatening to kill her
• Even beasts are subjected to the power of the imagination; dogs grieve when they lose their masters, horses struggle and whinny, and dogs yap and twitch in their dreams
• Can be attributed to the work of mind to body, communicating with one another
• On habit: and on never easily changing a traditional law:
• Habit → a violent and treacherous schoolteacher; it is authoritative within us and plants itself within
• It infringes rules of Nature, stunning our senses and combines and stabilizes effects on our senses
• Montaigne believes in in teaching children to detest vices, teach them the natural ugliness of vices in order to flee the deeds in their mind
• Discovering the effects of habit through impressions imprinted on the soul, where there is less resistance
• There is nothing that habit cannot do when concerned with judgements and beliefs
• Judgement’s power is dulled once grown accustomed to something   
• Plato’s remedy to rid of unnatural loves of his age →
• public opinion condemn them, poets and everyone else give bad accounts of them
• Same design: differing outcomes:
• Stresses uncertainty in all human affairs
• Show’s his concern with role of Fortune in all human arts
• Fortune reveals clearly the part it plays in all works as seen through grace and beauty found within
• Without artist’s intention or knowledge
• A competent reader can find in another one’s writing, other than those the author knows he put, richer senses and meanings
• Fortune plays a major part in military exploits → an element of chance and good luck mingled in
• the more lively and free → the more frailty within → more distrust
• state of indecision and perplexity brought out by inability to see most advantageous
• History tells people faced with fears to chose vengeance and punishments to hasten the conspiracies
• teaching others to be watchful and distrustful of others will lead to their downfall and shame
• Nothing noble is achieved without risk
• On schoolmasters’ learning:
• Conflict between common man and men of outstanding learning (gentlemen)
• A soul enriched with knowledge should not be more alert and alive; the mind is swamped by too much studying
• Similarly: plants that get too much water, lamps with too much oil
• The mind, if given too much knowledge, can lose its “struggles to be free”
• Evil rises from tackling science in a wrong manner; being taught in the wrong manner results in neither the master nor the pupil to be able
• Learning is passed from hand to hand with only one end in view
• All we do is look after the opinions and learnings of others
• We rely so much on someone else that we destroy our own learning (we need to rely more on ourselves rather than someone else
• “Learning is a good medicine: but no medicine is powerful enough to preserve itself from taint and corruption independently of defects in the jar”
• On educating children:
• Two opposing concepts: Chrysippus, philosopher → intermingled passages from other authors through entire books; Epicurus → left three hundred tomes (book) behind without a single quotation from another author in any of them
• Education → greatest and most important known human learning is the area of upbringing children and educating them
• Educating children is like farming: the ploughing is easy and so is planting → but as soon as what’s planted springs to life, it is difficult to care for
• In human beings it is easy “planting them,” but as soon as they’re born we are tasked with diversifying them
• It’s hard to force “a natural bent” on a child, forcing a child to learn something they will never achieve on will only waste away
• Always guide children to the best and most rewarding goals
• The student has to understand to confess his error as an act of justice and integrity
• Stubbornness and rancour → vulgar qualities
• Nothing better than making the student want to study and love it
• “otherwise you simply produce donkeys laden with books”
• That is madness to judge the true and the false from our own capacities:
• Simple mindedness is attributed to a belief in anything and ignorance; Montaigne was taught that a belief is like an impression stamped on the soul
• → a softer and less resisting soul = easier to print anything on it
• Silly arrogance in hating something just because it is different; common vice among people that believe themselves to be above others
• On affectionate relationships:
• Chapter is traditionally called ‘On friendship’ → however, Renaissance French includes many affectionate relationships; several terms needed in order to render different senses
• friendship, loving-friendship, benevolence, affection, affectionate relationships, and love
• Montaigne talks about wanting to imitate his friend paint, but is short on the talent to do so → instead he borrows a ‘painting’ from Etienne de La Boetie
• He believes that La Boetie has written noble works and he, himself, is indebted to La Boetie for the treatise as it was the cause of their friendship
• Children to fathers is more a mutual of respect, not friendship due to their inequality (also might interfere with their natural obligations)
• Bond of ‘brothers’ is true and full of love, similar to what he has with La Boetie as they made a brotherhood with their alliance
• You cannot compare friendship with the passion men feel with women (not in the same category)
• flames of passion → more active, keen, and sharp, but it is also a rash, fickle, fluctuating, and variable one
• love between friends → general universal warmth, temperate and smooth, a constant warmth with gentleness and evenness
• On moderation:
• The chapter continues on Montaigne’s reflections on love and marriage, banter to seriousness
• One can love virtue too much and behave with excess
• Montaigne saw a great nobleman harm the reputation of his religion by showing himself to be too religious, beyond that of his rank
• Montaigne likes nature because it is temperate and moderate
• Marriage → religious and devout, pleasure is serious; wise and dutiful
• Chief end is procreation
• No pleasure when excessive and intemperate
• On the cannibals:
• Cannibals mentioned lived on coasts of Brazil
• Montaigne wants just topographers (people that make detailed accounts on places they’ve been to) instead of people telling stories on everything else
• A man should only tell stories of things he is knowledgeable about    
• He deems them not savages or barbarians → there is nothing barbarous about someone that they are not accustomed to
• Montaigne retells stories about “cannibals,” about the conquest of the New World
• Judgements on God’s ordinances must be embarked upon with prudence:
• Subject of deception is unknown → strangeness gives them acceptance; they don’t live by the order of argument
• No people are more sure of themselves than those who tell stories
• On fleeing from pleasures at the cost of one’s life:
• Shows the parallelism of Christianity and Stoicism
• Montaigne believes that when more bad comes out of good then it is time to die
• To preserve the life from prejudice and anguish
• Contempt for death to dissuade honors, riches, and other fortunes
• Fortune is often found in Reason’s train:
• Fortune has many “faces” → Montaigne believes that Fortune likes to play with people
• Fortune rivals that of Christian miracles, and dabbles in medicine (it does not give up even though doctors have given up)
• Something lacking in our civil administrations:
• “Polity” → civil administration; applies to both running of a country and running of an estate
• Mutual advertising does not bring slight advantage to public dealings because of the amount of bargains seeking each other

Chapter 36: Of Cato the Younger
•difference & not uniformity among men

>love and honor others for being who they are

>judge every man by himself instead of by "common examples" (stereotypes)
•virtue in this age is defective & simply just talk

>all things done for a proposed end, a second cause

>our judgment is sick and obeys our depraved manners

>fake ingenuity, work only to hurt/blemish others

*Cato was a Roman orator, fought against Julius Caesar (48 BC); eventually committed suicide

Vocabulary: gewgaw- trinket, showy but inexpensive, ornament


Chapter 37: That We Laugh & Cry for the Same Thing
•various desires/passions/emotions expressed simultaneously

>"...gay beneath a somber air."

>"The heirs tears behind the mask are smiles."

>EX: Timolean murders a tyrant, he has restored liberty, yet he laments because the tyrant was his brother


Chapter 38: Of Solitude
•"we are not born for ourselves but for the public"
•Ambition gives a taste of solitude
•some prefer to be alone & flee a place but to be truly alone one must "take possession of his soul, he must sequester and come again to himself."


>EX: "our disease lie in minds, no escape from itself" >> true solitude can be found anywhere

>EX: A dog breaks from his chain but always drags a portion with him. He never acquires absolute liberty because he looks upon what he left behind
•"wise man never loses anything id he have himself"

> happiness shouldn't depend on people treasures, etc. we must save our hearts for a solitude, a retreat to be happy with nothing when all is lost

>"In solitude, be company for thyself."

>we lived for others, the last remnant of life is ours, "to wean ourselves from society"
•glory and repose cannot inhabit one place nor ambition and solitude another

>Pliny tells Ciero to write when he retires, for ambition

>do not care what others speak of you, worry about what you say to yourself

>"Retire yourself into yourself"

>to need only oneself and please oneself >> true & NATURAL philosophy, not ambition and glory


Chapter 39: A Consideration Upon Cicero
•Cicero & Young Pliny (two counsels of Rome) > eloquent speech but not at all wise, depended on their ONE talent of speech

>ambitious men, didn't want time to forget them

>"A carefully arranged dress is no manly ornament"

* Montaigne hates "all air of flattery," does not premeditate letters, always uses stream of cons.


Chapter 40: That the Relish For Good & Evil Depends in Great Measure Upon the Opinion We Have of Them
•we are tormented by our own opinion of things and not the things themselves; we give things power (or else everyone would suffer from the same fears)

>EX: fear of death: when kings died, wives and servants would throw themselves into the fire and burned with him joyfully, they did NOT fear death

>"They suffered so much the more, by how much more they gave way to the suffering."

>"grief is not in nature, but in opinion."

>"Everyone is the maker of his own fortune."

>EX: Conditions of Life ($$)

1. borrowed money relentlessly, felt good to pay it back

2. have own money > more money = more fear for the money > harder to keep than to get > deprived from enjoyment of spending

3. living day to day, necessity

>"The things are not so painful and difficult of themselves, but our weakness and cowardice makes them so."

>"No man continues ill long but by his own fault."


Chapter 41: Not to Communicate a Man's Honour
•reputation and glory > universal follies

>EX: Catulus Luctatius, in war, receives honor for faking cowardice and fleeing from the enemy so his men could follow and hide their own shame


Chapter 42: Of the Inequality Among Us
•abundance of differences between men

>judge a man entirely, "measure him without his stilts"
•Yet the only difference between a king and a peasant are his pants

>all men succumb to disease, fear, troubles, shame, etc

>all men bleed a crimson color

"Nor do burning fevers quit you sooner if you are stretched on a couch of rich tapestry and in a vest of purple dye, than if you be in a course blanket."
•"goods" are evil to the unjust and as good to the just
•"Servitude enchains few, but many enchain themselves to servitude."

Chapter 43: Of Sumptuary Laws
•"The way by which our laws attempt to regulate idle and vain expenses in meat and clothes, seems to be quite contrary to the end designed."

>causes men to see riches as useless (material goods)
•no laws have true credit, unless issued by God or that no one knows its origin
•change is to be feared> disagree, change is not always negative, change and advancement are positive things in this constantly changing world

Chapter 44: Of Sleep

>EX: Alexander the Great when assigned battle with Darius slept profoundly

* great men when faced with great bouts & important affairs keep themselves so serene & calm, as to never disturb their sleep


Chapter 45: Of the Battle of Dreux

>Dec. 19, 1562, Catholics under Duc de Guise & Constable de Montmorenci defeat Protestants

>Agesilaus VS Boeotians, Agesilaus allowed enemy to pass & attacked from the rear, like a coward


Chapter 46: Of Names
•variety of herbs shuffed together in a dish, whole mass swallowed by one name

>EX: royal families known only by last name & no individually
•finds it wrong to mutilate or change one's name
•names are only but a sound, and three or fours dashes with a pen
•every nation has certain names, common names

Chapter 47: Of the Uncertainty of Our Judgment
•"Irritated necessity bites deepest."

>EX: soldiers used to take all riches to battle to protect it, but it only gave enemy a bigger incentive to attack

>EX: Votellius injusred opposing soldiers verbally, caused them to take action >> fought harder "when the quarrel is his own"
•events depend upon fortune, that will not submit to human reason and prudence

Chapter 48: Of War Horses, or Destriers
•trained horses, war horses

>EX: Mamalukes (horses) recognized enemy, picked up weapons, etc.

>EX: Alexander (Bucephalus) head shape of bull, rode only by Alexander

>EX: Caesar, had a horse with human feet, rode only by Caesar
•wars fought on foot are more furious, soldiers depend on themselves

>EX: better to depend on one's own strength, than to worry about the effect of other factors
•Multi-purpose horses: for battle, in extreme cases used as meat, urine and blood as drink, for warmth, and as protection

Chapter 49: Of Ancient Customs
•common vice to walk the beaten roads of our ancestors

-goes through a series of changed customs, comparing them >> bathing only arms & legs to bathing at least 3-4 times a day > removal of hair > saluting with kisses > wiping with a sponge > long hair with a partial shave > fruit after dinner


Chapter 50: Of Democritus & Heraclitus
•philosophers: the first found human condition ridiculous and vain, laughed and jeered, the latter appeared sorrowful
•**author finds human condition ridiculous and laughable
•"leave choice of arguments to fortune, and take that she first presents to me."

>governed by ignorance


Chapter 51: Of the Vanity of Words
•Aristo defined rhetoric as "a science to persuade the people" > Socrates & Plato as an "art to flatter and deceive"
•"to make little things appear great"

>EX: @Rome, when affairs were disastrous, eloquent speech helped "for the stupidity ...of the common people"


Chapter 52: Of the Parsimony of the Ancients
•parsimony: extreme unwillingness to spend money or use resources

>EX: Attilius Regulus (general, had glories and riches) claimed his trustee ran away with his farming tools and destroyed 7 acres of land (not much for a wealthy man) >> Senate ordered losses be covered and family be put under public expense

>EX: Elder Cato: walked everywhere, carried his own belongings, never splurged on an expensive robe >>> disagree with the idea that money should not be spent, it should be used wisely and obstructively, not made into mounds where it becomes useless and harder to spend


Chapter 53: Of a Saying of Caesar
•we are never satisfied and "pant after things to come"

> "our appetite is irresolute and fickle" (uncertain and changing)

> * "Tis the common vice of nature, that we at once repose most confidence and receive the greatest apprehensions, from things unseen, concealed, and unknown."


Chapter 54: Of Vain Subtleties
•subtleties: distinction that is difficult to make, but important

>EX: Romans dress the same for feasts and funerals

>EX: Dame = women of GREAT quality, Demoiselles = inferior gentlewoman, Dame = lowest and meanest women


Chapter 55: Of Smells
•lack of smell > "She smells sweetest who smells not at all."
•perfume used to CONCEAL > "he who ever smells well does NOT smell well."

- simple and natural most pleasing, Montaigne has GREAT sense of smell

- incense and perfumes in churches meant to cheer and purify souls believes Montaigne


Chapter 56: Of Prayers
•Montaigne is Catholic, yet he is censured by Church
•ALL prayers have the same substance, Montaigne only recites "Our Father"
•humans recourse to God in all affairs, no matter how trivial

>soul and unique protector

>we pray only by custom and lay in hypocrisy

>souls must be clean when we pray or wickedness doubled

"We ought not to mix God in our actions"

>we shouldn't try to interpret, human discourse not eloquent enough
•we invoke him in our unjust designs and vices

*"women not fit to treat of theological affairs" > disagree, woman are just as capable as men in all aspects if provided with the same studies, and resources

>"We whisper our guilty prayers."


Chapter 57: Of Age
•Younger Cato at 48 wished to end his life (advance age at that time)
•"natural" death is seldom, isn't drowning or breaking your neck natural?
•Souls are adults at age 20 > "If the thorn does not prick at its birth, 'twill hardly ever prick at all."
•great human actions preformed before 30, everything goes down and under after

BOOK THE SECOND

Chapter 1: Of the Inconstancy of Our Actions
•
"natural instability of our manners and opinions"


> we follow the "inclinations of our appetite"

>"man has two souls" good & evil

>we live by chance
•
shouldn't judge by just actions, but on the soul, to discover by what the motion is guided



Chapter 2: Of Drunkenness
•gross and brutish vice; corporeal and earthly; overthrows understanding and renders the body stupid > vents inward secrets

1. drink without concern for taste

2. drink freely and frequently to refresh soul

*sees no need to drink, other than to quench thirst

*age 18 to drink, 40 to get drunk


Chapter 3: A Custom of the Isle of Cea
•"... no one can deprive us of death"

>voluntary death is finest

>yet, need HIS license to depart
•"Death to that degree so frightens some men, that causing them to hate both life and light, they kill themselves, miserably forgetting that this same fear is the fountain of their cares."

>Piny & his three reasons for suicide: kidney stones, stomachache, headache


Chapter 4: To-morrow's a New Day
•vice opposite of curiosity is negligence
•Montaigne doesn't pry into other people's affairs

Chapter 5: Of Conscience
•"It makes us betray, accuse, and fight against ourselves..."
•"Wickedness contrives torment against self."

>EX: boy kills sparrows because they wouldn't stop accusing him of killing his father, town didn't know of the murdered until he admitted it.
•good conscience = greater confidence and assurance
•* "Pain will make even the innocent lie."

>men rather die than go under examination and torture


Chapter 6: Use Makes Perfect
•philosophers threw themselves at difficulties to practice

>EX: abandon riches and go into voluntary poverty; sought manual labor
•Death is the only thing that can't be practiced

>BUT SLEEP! > "In life she presents to us the eternal state she reserves for us after it."
•one must get acquainted to death > gives testimony by what he knows and has experienced

Chapter 7: Of Recompenses of Honour

>EX: Augustus Caesar gave gifts to men of merit, but with honor he was sparing

>better to fall short in giving it, than to honor someone who is undeserving
•custom to acknowledge excellent men

Chapter 8: Of the Affection of Fathers to Their Children

*To Madame D'Estissac (widow, maternal affection) ~kids indebted with her
•parents love children more than kids will ever love them
•Montaigne does not see embryo as a child for its lack of "motion of soul" and indistinguishable body
•vice of fathers> not waste money on kids, makes them into thieves
•children should love their fathers for their wisdom and kindness, not their assistance > condemns violence
•hates the idea that kids don't call their father just that, Montaigne fixed that in his own home
•widows shouldn't control children's futures >> disagree, no matter how incompetent woman may seem, children are still even more helpless at a young age and cannot be trusted to make clear and logical decisions
•*2nd production: knowledge, what we leave behind, legacy

Chapter 9: Of the Arms of the Parthians
•soldiers used to go to war without defensive arms (critic of today's production)

>EX: Alexander rarely wore armor

>armor is more of a burden and hassle


Chapter 10: Of Books
•his books are his own fancies, lays himself wide open, wants people to look at his METHOD of writing (stream of cons.)
•reads as a diversion and to please himself
•gives up when he doesn't understand something the first time, doesn't bother with books that don't interest him

>goes on to compare his favorite authors
•wants a man to begin with the main proposition

>historians tell only important events, incidents must be told from firsthand accounts or they lose validity
•"I had rather be old  brief time, than be old before old age."

Chapter 11: Of Cruelty
•"Virtue is much strengthened by combats."
•"...when we judge of a particular action, we are to consider the circumstances, and the whole man by whom it is preformed..."
•"Nor carry wrong further."
•Montaigne cannot stand any form of cruelty, even if it is for justice, he is compassionate; cannot see himself even kill an animal
•"That a man should kill a man, not being angry, not in fear, only for the sake of the spectacle." >truly wrong (speaking on gladiators)
•nature game man an instinct to inhumanity > Montaigne believes in reincarnation, says humans will turn to animals based on their human actions, a sort of purgatory, where one is returned to human form when purified

Chapter 12: Apology for Raimond Sebond

• Some have a hate for Christianity
• “there is no creature in the world exposed to so many injuries as man” -Michel de Montaigne
• The story of Plutarch (Greek Biographer)
• Alludes to early Roman History of Mark Antony and Augustus Caesar
• Animal vs. Man comparisons
• Roman and Greek culture correlates to Montaigne’s present day life in France
• “surpasses all human thought of what kind of animal has nature even so much honoured the birth”
• First law from God was ‘pure obedience’
• Man susceptible to being regular or different.
• Rarely an apology essay, Connotation meaning 2 or 3 [of Apology] where 2) a defense, or excuse in speech or writing or 3) A dialogue by Plato, that mainly dealt with the Senate in defense for Socrates up for death or not.
• Plato and Socrates are mentioned in this essay to make a comparison to Montaigne’s friend; a critical situation that friends ensure their dignities and make a lengthy speech about so.
• A connection of Ancient Greece's greatest thinkers and how they shaped the world, especially the way Montaigne alludes to them
• Value of Latin and the recognition to interpret quotes
• Montaigne comments about man’s thoughts on God
• Refer back to Aristotle and his philosophical teachings that Montaigne displays here
• In this essay, Montaigne goes over an expansive history lesson and lets the readers think about their faith and values
• Questions God’s existence (Not sure if he is truthful with his beliefs), but man was built upon his image and those whose views determine paganism.

Chapter 13: Of Judging Of The Death Of Another

• ‘’judge of another’s assurance of death...the most remarkable action of human life” suggests that everyone’s feelings drop to a level of significant remorse or gratitude
• Alludes to Roman deaths during Caesar’s time
• Some Men killing themselves for some reason
• Natural death or concurrent to other sources of fatal death

Chapter 14: That Our Mind Hinders Itself

• “ A Mind exactly balanced betwixt two equal desires”
• being proud with the mind and soul; the balance between the soul can’t equal and the other is favored more by desired traits

Chapter 15: That Our Desires Are Augmented By Difficulty

• “Desire and fruition equally afflict us”
• Qualities of Women that Montaigne think women need to use to stay who they are like temperance, modesty, chastity, etc.
• Religion holds people together and pious beliefs builds a stronger bond when Montaigne says “Tis an effect of the divine Providence to suffer the holy Church to be afflicted, as we see it, with so many storms and troubles, by this opposition to rouse pious souls, and to awaken them from that drowsy lethargy wherein[...]” even when opposition of trouble disdains it.
• The question of civil government was meant for another purpose even if external forces think of ways of “preserving” their civil liberties.
• Montaigne’s house or controlled structure of thinking the same way as him since it makes to him and it isn’t conflicting.
• Other houses broken by outside forces but Montaigne’s house remains

Chapter 16: Of Glory

• “The name and the thing” is explained explicitly by Montaigne as two diverse matters incoherent of each other’s presence.
• Relation to the name and the thing to God and man
• Glory over self sustained qualities that people need in their lives to live on as happy citizens
• Stories of glory by great historians and philosophers
• Virtue is a very vain and frivolous thing if it derive its recommendation from glory
• According to Montaigne, man needs to take risks and stand out to be at the top of his league or career.
• Glory is used to define someone who has done something significant and received compensation of something of value
• Glory is something of a name given but no virtue in it
• Something earned by doing a simple task or by war where it’s easily earned through fighting and murder

Chapter 17: Of Presumption

• Something of a pre judgement or prejudice when Montaigne explains “we have taught the ladies to blush[...]” hence the name presumption
• People with fortune are presumed to have everything but are mislead in someway.
• Respect for that person for having the presumptuous characteristic is treated differently
• Montaigne comments on he’s been “ignorant” during his time of writing this essay, thinking that someone who read his essay will judge him by his written work.
• The authors work can be ‘disgusted’ his work such as Montaigne who says so himself in this essay by simply loving other’s works that aren’t his.

Book the Second chpt. 18- Book the Third chpt. 5
Chapter 18- Of Giving the Lie
- States that the desire to learn about one man’s life lies in the many accomplishments that he has fulfilled; ordinary men will be given no attention
- Only writes of himself for the entertainment of friends but admits to changing his own image for his benefit
- Those who think of themselves only do not have the capacity to go deep and discover past the superficial
- Truth is what we convince others to believe;  not seen as a vice; Lying is a natural defect that is necessary when trying to evade accusations of cowardice and weakness
- Our lies interpret our souls and make up the connections we hold with others; men seem to enjoy playing with their words as it is the only way of communication

Chapter 19- Of Liberty of Conscience
- Good intentions and true passion can often lead to the absence of reason
- Emperor Julian depicted as a great man, brave, honorable, hardworking, and good
- His great defect was his religion which he tried to encourage in times of civil dissension; only achieved inflaming them more
- Some say using liberty of conscience and giving one’s opinion leads to division while others say that it serves to appease
- Liberty of conscience cannot always be given, and does not do well in all situations

Chapter 20- That We Taste Nothing Pure
- We can never experience the true nature of all that is good without some sort of bitterness accompanying it; we ourselves complain even about our greatest pleasures
- Pain and pleasure go hand in hand as well as labor and pleasure; even in sorrow we feel happiness
- We can never feel neither pure sorrow nor pure joy; there can be no virtue w/o a trace of vice or justice w/o some injustice
- Sometimes necessary to dilute the pureness of something in order for it to be successful
- All humans are diverse/motley; never truly pure

Chapter 21- Against Idleness
- Emperor Vespasian even on his deathbed continued to tend to his affairs “An emperor must die standing”
- Victories obtained in one’s absence never truly belong nor are complete; nobody performs his duties by standing still
- Seen as respectable and manly to continue ones efforts even when they are burdened (i.e. sickness);  king of Fez continued his fight until the very end
- courageous to live through life even after death greets you at the doorway

Chapter 22- Of Posting
- Many different methods carried out in order to have news circulate as fast as possible
- King Cyrus aptd. many men at different distances; Lucius Vibullis Rufus took many fresh horses; Cecina used swallows; D. Brutus used pigeons; the Wallachians dismounted other riders as they pleased; etc.

Chapter 23- Of Ill Means Employed to a Good End
- Purgations have been applied in instances of sickness (whether good or bad); people have been sent to inhabit other lands by the Romans in order to expand; and wars have been maintained to control the numbers of their youth
- Some wish for war in order that the politic body will not be in ruins
- Some wished criminals be cut up in for the sole purpose of making more discoveries about anatomy
- Made people witness the murder of thousands of men so that they would show no weakness when their time would come
- Men and women willingly gave their lives for purposes that were not of their concern

Chapter 24- Of the Roman Grandeur
- Ceasar’s letter shows just how easily kingdoms were given to ordinary gentleman
- Marcus Antonius states grandeur of Rome lies in what they gave not in what they took
- Great height of power;  kingdoms gained in war were restored to rightful owners;  kingdoms sometimes presented to strangers

Chapter 25- Not to Counterfeit Being Sick
- Story of Caelius: feigned having gout, got gout
- Appian story where a man went into disguise and plastered his left eye, ended up losing sight in that eye
- Fortune seems to enjoy making bad situations come true when we fake them
- Our diseases are within each of us, it does no good to go looking for them; when we don’t know we are sick, the cure is more difficult to come along

Chapter 26- Of Thumbs
- Thumbs would symbolize a firm obligation to barbarian kings; physicians look at the thumbs as the masters of the hand
- The Latins saw the thumb as a hand all by itself; thumbs also represented a signification of favour
- The lack of thumbs was seen as a sort of impairment and exempted people from doing many things
- Thumbs held importance

Chapter 27- Cowardice the Mother of Cruelty
- Maliciousness is accompanied by “feminine” weakness; cruel people are apt to cry
- Those who massacre in war do so after the enemy is at their mercy; “cowardly dogs”
- Killing is an act of fear and never truly serves as revenge; you end a life simply as a precaution to yourself b/c your cowardice fears that he will hurt you first
- We conquer to maintain our safety not our honor; some look towards death as an invitation to be cruel
- Being cowardly and having a multitude to help defend you can lead to disastrous results and your own demise
- Jealousy of courage makes up the ‘honor’ of combat
- Warlike fights neglect law and justice and weaken the govt
- Those who are timorous and cowardly find solace in killing those who may one day hurt them; a vicious cycle of cruelty and revenge
- Choice of greatest cruelty lies in whether vengeance should be violent but short or long but not as painful
- Torture= cowardice; any death that is not a simple one is cruel

Chapter 28- All Things Have Their Season
- Observes that often when our time is almost up we seem to feel a new desire to live and learn
- “the young are to make their preparations, the old to enjoy them”
- States that all things are not for all ages
- Whatever we may do should be so that it is “suitable” to our present season
- Does not necessarily like the idea of an elder person studying new concepts or going to school

Chapter 29- Of Virtue
- In order to fully judge someone you must observe their common actions
- Pyrrho through constancy and perseverance attempted to make his manner consistent to his doctrine; seen scolding sister and defending himself against a dog
- Sometimes people who through common actions seem consistent, form a resolution suddenly that would be seen as shocking
- Oriental wives willingly kill themselves after the death of their husbands; seen as a honor
- Death seems carefully planned out; yet we never what  events will happen until we see them ourselves
- When life is secured by destiny no harm can budge fate; when it is not your time you will not go
- Likewise when the odds seem completely against one the feat that they wish to accomplish they can achieve

Chapter 30- Of a Monstrous Child
- Child with double body and several limbs seen as monstrous; man with no genital parts seen as a freak
- These are not monsters in Gods eyes; these works are simply unknown and different in the eyes of the man
- This difference is what categorizes these beings as contrary to nature, however nothing is contrary to nature and all that is new should not be seen as a mistake

Chapter 31- Of Anger
- Anger leaves no place for right judgment; we find our motives completely different than what we wished (i.e. correction<revenge)
- Passion speaks when anger takes hold, we are not ourselves; anger changes our perception of things
-  Saying is a different thing than doing
-  “he who speaks what he thinks, strikes much more home than he who only feigns”
- It is best not to act at all when angry, for sometimes we can be angry with truth itself
- The most choleric man can also be the most patient for he has to constantly moderate his anger
- However the more you try to hide you anger the more you fall under it, it is best to let it go than to let it accumulate and try to conceal it
- No matter how strong we may think we are anger can carry us quite far over a trifling matter
- Best to acknowledge the great power anger can have over us, and that although we think we can use it in our favor almost always manipulates us

Chapter 32- Defense of Seneca and Plutarch
- Feels that it is necessary to stand up for Seneca and Plutarch for they have greatly influenced his writings
- Dion makes Seneca to be avaricious, ambitious, and effeminate while according to Montaigne his actions prove the contrary; believes Roman historians more than Greeks and foreigners
- Jean Bodin accuses Plutarch of writing “absolutely fabulous things” but Montaigne states that he wanted to suspend belief and has witnessed some of the seemingly ridiculous things Plutarch has written about
- Goes on to include examples of obstinate resolution that seem almost impossible but that occurred often
- “obstinacy is the sister of constancy”
- Bodin states that Plutarch said false things b/c he was not familiar with the things he wrote about
- Plutarch accused of partiality; Montaigne defends by saying he gave separate judgments to all

Chapter 33- The Story of Spurina
- Some say the feelings of love weaken the body and thus do all they can to rid themselves of this appetite
- However these ‘appetites’ cannot be satiated nor helped; seen in the amorous delights of Ceaser
- Even valiant and ambitious captains yearn for pleasure and enjoyment
- Even great knowledgeable men can be overcome with passion that guides them to pleasure
- Venus: ‘natural sweetness’, confidence, grandeur; good inclinations stifled by his ambition, his vanity was his great vice
- A hatred is felt towards one’s own graces which produce envy and admiration in others; Spurnia had a furious spite against himself for having such endowments of nature
- Disfigured his own beautiful face; Montaigne fears that either way he will please no one with his actions
- Some avoid the pain of living well

Chapter 34- Observation on the Means to Carry on a War According to Julius Caesar
- Would exaggerate the truth so that the soldiers would find the enemy weaker than expected and thus be prepared
- Trained them to obey and only gave orders at the point of execution
- Required only valor from his soldiers, knew how to make the best of all situations
- “was his custom to be night and day with his pioneers”; Caesar was very abstinent
- *subdued kingdom of Egypt and attacked forces of Scipio and Juba;  “boldness and vehement confidence”
- “tis not the number of men, but the number of good men, that gives the advantage”
- Soldiers were loyal, honorable, and tenacious;  reason maintained even through passion
- Managed to control the thirst for glory
Chapter 35- Of Three Good Women
- Women tend to conceal their love for their husbands until after their death
- States that women who wept during their husbands lives should laugh at their death; however they put up an act, not to lament the dead but to get a new husband
- First good woman killed herself along with her husband b/c his sickness would take his life anyway; maintained the loyal affection she had of him during all her life
- Second good woman seeing her husband taken prisoner ordered to be reunited with him so that they could both die together, even after she killed herself she reassured him that it was painless
- Third woman offered to give her life with her husband and had both their veins cut open; she was saved despite her wishes to die
- Paulina’s husband prolonged his life on her accord; “tis a testimony of grandeour courage to return to life for the consideration of another”

Chapter 36- Of the Most Excellent Men
- Homer= guide and teacher; “perfect instructor in the knowledge of all things”
- The first and last of the poets, work is seen as perfect and is widely famous
- Alexander the Great; obtained great accomplishments at such a young age, “master of justice, liberality, truth in his word, love towards his own people…”
- “the first of men”; list of his military virtues; left legacy even after his death
- Epaminondas “greatest man” of the Greek nation; better than even the previous two
- “never a man knew so much, and spake so little as he”; excellent orator; he is a man of virtue throughout
- Preferred his parents pleasure over his own; humane, victorious, prosperity of country died w/ him

Chapter 37- Of the Resemblance of Children to their Fathers
- Most wish to die before they run into disadvantages of old age however once they find themselves in wretched conditions they yearn to live
- The closer you are to death, the least afraid you are of it
- States that if one fins a method of dealing with their pain they must act it out (groaning, agitating, tumbling, etc.)
- Pains can deaden ones desires and appetites even if you are still capable of acting rationally
- Sometimes our humility can reveal our ignorance
- Montaigne’s antipathy for physicians runs throughout his family ( father, grandfather, great-grandfather)
- Through experience we learn to dread certain things
- “ ‘Tis the fear of death and of pain, impatience of disease, and a violent and indiscreet desire of a present cure that so blind us”
- The diversity between opinions is universal, it would be extremely strange for two thoughts from two different people to agree
Chapter 1- Of Profit and Honesty
- We are imperfect but there is nothing useless in nature; even the sickly qualities make up human life
- “poisons are useful for the conservation of health”
- Through honesty you receive liberty and freedom;  “anger and hatred are beyond the duty of justice”
- It is not honest to be wavering and irresolute
- We cannot call courage that which springs forth form discontent, it leads to no just act
- You can use your enemies to your own profit being careful not to tangle yourself with them
- He who is unfaithful to himself is unfaithful to everyone
- Innocence itself finds itself needing to lie; justice has no solid shape
- Some necessary actions that bring forth profit are dishonest and foul; treachery is only excusable when it betrays treachery
- Dishonest men look to death as the means of erasing their crimes
- Violent actions+ purest innocence+ sweetness+ steadfastness= justice (Epaminondas)
- “Let us deprive wicked, bloody, and treacherous natures of such pretense of reason”

Chapter 2- Of Repentance
-  “vice leaves repentance in the soul, like in ulcer in the flesh”;
- the approval of others on your actions is not always sound, their praises and reproaches can be false
- Only you know your true inner person for others do not see you the same way you see yourself
- Repentance does not immediately come after the sin is committed
- Vicious souls are to be judged by their settled states and by their original dispositions
- Sometimes are vices have been with us so long that we do not see the harm in them or sometimes the temptation is just too strong to repent
- When sin is recognized but we continue to commit it, although we can say we repent we truly don’t
- We make think we feel grief but we show no correction or amendment
- Repentance can be confused for dissatisfaction and sorrow
- “we do not forsake vices as we change them, and in my opinion, for the worse”

Chapter 3- Of Three Commerces
- Life is unequal and irregular and we must learn to perform more than one task
- We must exercise our minds, meditation is a powerful and full study
- Reading helps people gain reason and employ judgment; “we must moderate and adapt our desires to the nearest and easiest to be acquired things”
- Prefers to humble his mind than to elevate it
- “Lay aside power and subtilty in common conversation..”
- Solitude can simply mean keeping ones thoughts to himself, his own cares and desires
- Everything comes with its inconveniences even that which brings us pleasure

Chapter 4- Of Diversion
- Public diversions are too frequently found in history (Monseigneur d’Hempricourt)
- When you divert the thoughts they don’t disappear but they do decline
- Sometimes diversion of thoughts enable one to do feats otherwise unthinkable (death)
- The passion and struggle of war diverts the soldiers thoughts from death and gore
- “These are sedatives and alleviations to the greatest pains”- Cicero
- Diverting either feelings or ambitions that are much too string for you can be beneficial
- “A little thing will turn and divert us, because a little thing holds us.”
- Humans will mold and play with truth to diver their true feelings into whatever they desire

Chapter 5- Upon Some Verses of Virgil
- We seek pleasure in the memories of our past, we let their images take over our mind
- Pleasure is for those who have very little ambition
- However tranquility does no good either for it begins to numb and stupefy you
- “Everyone is wary and discreet in confession, but men ought to be so in action”
- When you try to hide certain actions or virtues form others, you attempt to conceal them from yourself as well
- Those who work only for the benefit of honor and glory never show their true selves
- Qualities and virtues may be interrelated with one another however they cannot be confused for each other (i.e. nobility = virtue?)
- “… so unsteady and vain is all human resolution!”
- Modesty serves as an attraction to men, encourages them and serves to make them love all the better
- The boundaries and limits of honor can stretch a little without committing fault
- The more difficult a “conquest” is, the more valuable is it to those whom pursue it
- Jealousy = “the same causes that served for a foundation of good-will serve them for a foundation of mortal hatred”
- The attention we place on trivial things keeps us form truly observing those that are necessary and just
- Both sexes come from the same mold and Antisthenes rejected all distinction between their virtues

Chapter 6: The Couches

·        Makes a point, “that nothing so much throws us into danger as an inconsiderate eagerness of getting ourselves clear of them.”

·        After close encounter w/ death nothing is the same.

·        Royalty uses their money to entertain their eyes rather of tending to bellies.

·        Those who only think of taking never think of what they have taken, and w / ingratitude.

·        A king has nothing his own, but owes himself to the people.

·        He thinks that our knowledge is weak; we neither see forward nor far backward, we understand little.

·        There is nothing single & rare in respect of naturel, but our knowledge (“a wretched foundation”) represents to us a false image.

·        Respects those who die with their dignity and fighting for beliefs. (Nobel conquest)

·        They had taken advantage of natives ignorance & inexperience, & eased them into treachery, luxury,, & towards all inhumanity & cruelty, by their manners.

·        King of Peru is framed to have raised an insurrection of his provinces, he was hanged, and the people did expensive funerals

·        Conquerors are cruel and barbarous.

·        He ends this chapter with a king of Peru in the middle of his army many of his men were killed, but he was eventually conquered by a horseman

Ch.7: Of the Inconvenience of Greatness

·        Growing moderately in prudence, health, beauty, or riches, is better than blu in the end it oppresses imagination.

·        He doesn’t measure fortune by the height, but by how much room.

·        He believes those that discharge the king of office have the hardest job. “ For how can something so immeasurable be measured”

·        He believes Greek gods are transported with passions like anger fear, grief, and jealousy, so we can honour them “w/ the virtues that, amongst us, have built upon these imperfections”.

·        These loyal to royalty “leave nothing to recommend themselves w/, but actions that directly concern & serve the function of their place”.

Ch.8: Of the Art of Conference

·        A man named Pluto was hanged b/c he spoke freely to the tyrant (condemning someone for warning others)

·        A man’s accusations of himself are always believed, while his praises never.

·        Conversation can stir up someone’s imagination, and even though something may be raising w/I you , your mind fortifying itself by communication

·        Foolishness is a bad quality, especially in an argument, b/c they are impetus.

·        Contradictions only raise his attention blue the truth is what he seeks even at his own expense.

·        Yet realizes that it is hard to find men that have enough courage to correct and be corrected.

·        It’s dull to be with people that agree w/everything you say.

·        It’s frustrating to him that people with knowledge on a subject don’t share it.

·        The best arguments are not when you reach eminent wit, but when you know the person and whether the person is worth of imitation.

·        When judging someone else we shouldn’t spare ourselves.

·        Those who have not lifted as much as they can leave you to guess & have not tried their hardest , while he who sinks under his load knows his best & the weakness of his shoulders.

·        Judge by justice + choose men by reason= perfect firm of Gov.

·        Observations: men aren’t judged by worth, but by class & a man may say a good thing w/o seeing force of either the 1 or the other.

·        A fool may catch at what your trying to say and rob you of your interpretation.

·        Prudence forbids us to satisfy & trust ourselves, while stubbornness & temerity fill those w/ joy & assurance.

·        Tacitus always argues by strong & solid reasons. His book is more judgment than a narration of history.

·        All judgments are weak & imperfect

Ch.9: Of Vanity

·        He scorns himself if he mends only to halves, and has more of an interest to improve his health when he is well instead of restoring it when ill.

·        He envies those that are satisfied with themselves and value what they have above all the rest, but because of their wisdom, but because of their good fortune.

·         He is concerned w/ preventing poverty by lessening your own expense.

·        He enjoys another man’s house w/ greater and purer relish than of his own.

·        “ I had rather be a good horseman than a good logician

·        One of his wishes at this time is to have a son-in law that cherishes his old age and have someone to give all his goods, so that he could deposit it the way he would, but that’s only if he is a friend and is truly acknowledging, yet people have trouble trusting their own kids at this time.

·        Hates poverty but would be content living a humbler life.

·        “ I think it unhandsome to talk much to our guests of their entertaining, whether by way of bragging or excuse.

·        We deprive ourselves of our own advantages to accommodate to the common opinions

·        Innovation upon a state only gives form to injustice and tyranny.

·        A civil government continues against mortal and intestine diseases, against unjust laws, against tyranny, and against the ignorance of magistrates and against the treason of people.

·        He would rather peak an interest in his reader than tire him.

·        Seems very against being indebted to people for having to oblige.

·        It’s hard for him to imagine those that aren’t “discreditable, tyrannical, and tainted w/ reproach.”

·        He believes that great people are ambitious to make themselves beloved.

·        When going to bed he has apprehension b/c he thinks that he may be betrayed or murdered that night.

·        He sometimes imagines mortal dangers for himself with a kind of delight.

·        Travel is profitable for the souls observes new and unknown things and it exposes the diversity of others, and get to relish in the sight of other forms of human nature

·        He believes that women or wife should be able to manage their finances while the man is away

·        Believes that it is ridiculous and unjust that their lazy wives have to be maintained with the men’s sweat and labor

·        “, tis for youth to subject itself to common opinions, and to curb itself to please others”

·        “ Tis injustice to excuse youth for pursing its pleasures, and to forbid old men to seek them.”

·        When he dies he prefers to die alone instead of having to give a heartbreaking farewell.

·         “ Let us live and be merry amongst our friends; let us go repine and die amongst strangers”

·        Friends are better than water and fire.

·         We can lean on other but not our whole weight for then we will be crushing them.

·        Has seen that foreigners will not mix with any but their own, and look at another world with pity or disdain

·        Prefers to have company but rather be alone if the company is troublesome.

·        People may give advice to others yet not follow it themselves

·         Is disgusted sometimes with the world b/c it is not clear, mixed and artificial, and not purely innocent.

·        An honorable mark of goodness is to be able to confess one’s own faults who is also unwilling to follow them but decides to be better

·        “ nothing good can be born now, the seed is so corrupt”

·        “We go forward with the current, but to turn back towards ourselves is a painful motion; so is the sea moved and troubled when the waves rush against one another”

Ch. 10: Of Managing the Will

·        He believes that people should lend himself to other and only give himself to himself.

·        People should keep to their own business.

·        Other people are the one to occupy us not ourselves, b/c some have accustomed themselves to be at everyone’s call.

·        Pleasure itself is pain if you think about it.

·        Michel was choosen as mayor of Bordeaux do to the honour they had toward his late father. His father was a good natured, charitable & popular soul, yet he himself has difficulty following his example.

·        The ignorant judge and therefore are always being deceived.

·        He who carries himself more moderately toward both gain and lose, plays much more advantageously and surely.

·        “ A man is not a member of the body; if it be in his power to forsake it, & if he do not roll the common way.”

·        “ For want of prudence, men fall into want of courage, which  is still more intolerable.”

·        Dwarfish souls who spend their fame for having given right judgment in an affair yet the more they think to exalt their heads the more they show their tails.

·        “ all things seem more laudable to me that are performed without ostentation,& without the testimony of the people.”

Ch.11: Of Cripples

• Pleasant talkers are those that are, “willingly study to find out reasons than to ascertain truth… and are curious in examination of consequence; they leave the things and fly to the causes”
• It may be rude to deny a stated fact
• “Men are commonly inclined to make way for their own opinions”
• The continuation of getting to know yourself will further bring you to astonishment
• Those that want to be cured of ignorance must confess to it
• We are accustomed to believe what we don’t understand and because it is unclear it is easier to give credit
• “tis better to lean towards doubt than assurance, in things hard to prove and dangerous to believe”
• Prefers not to make potent conclusions because it may be overconfident

Ch.12: Of Physiognomy
• “We are taught to borrow and to beg, and brought up more to make use of what is another’s than of our own.”
• There are wars that are bent towards strangers it doesn’t just hurt the others but themselves with its own poison and it just ruins itself in the end.
• “ how great an impiety it is not to expect from God and relief simply his own and without our co- operation”
• “ Nothing has a more deceiving face than false religion, where the divinity of the gods is obscured by crimes”
• He would rather rise to an accusation instead and rise to meet it rather than giving a taunting confession
• Accidents serve to prepare you for worse
• When death is near it requires a slow courage, but sadly hardtop get.
• “we should always have death before our eyes, to see and consider it before time, and then gives us rules and precautions to provide that this foresight does not harm us”
• Nothing better than a profound sleep without dreams.
• “I cannot often enough repeat how great an esteem I have for beauty, that potent and advantageous quality”
• “a person’s look is but a feeble warranty; and yet it is something considerable too”

Ch.13: Of Experience
• “As we were formerly by crimes, so we are now overburdened by laws”
• He thinks laws should be simple and general, and thinks it would be best to have none at all than to have them in so prodigious number that we have.
• The form of this justice that governs us is a true testimony of human weakness
• “to learn that a man has said or done a foolish thing is nothing: a man must learn that he is nothing but a fool, a much more ample, and important instruction”
• The corruption that comes with the position of being king can’t be evaded.
• His regular habits don’t change in sickness or in health.
• “A man should addict himself to the best rules, but not enslave himself to them, except to such, if there be any such, where obligation and servitude are of profit”
• he thinks that we are patiently suffering the laws of our conditions like growing old, weak and sick even with medicines
• “the harmony of the world is compose of a variety of tones, sweet and harsh, sprightly and solemn”
• Health seems even greater, after having a sickness so near and contagious
• He rather help those that most need of him, than those that that have power to help him.
• God is favorable to those of old age because their death is much less painful; “it will kill but a half or a quarter of a man”
• “ young men are taken away by violence, old men by maturity”
• Prefers the winter instead of summer
• “There is jealousy and envy amongst our pleasure; they cross and hinder one another”
• Greatness of soul doesn’t consist of moving forward, but knowing how to govern and circumscribe itself.
• “Intemperance is the pest of pleasure, and temperance is not its scourge but rather its seasoning”
• Pain, hate, pleasure, and love are things that kids can be sensible because these virtues apply to them.
• He loves life and hopes to enjoy including the food and drink, because God has bestowed upon us.
• It’s wrong to marry if complete opposites like: reasonable & unreasonable, honest &
dishonest, the divine & the earthly.
• “Nature is a gentle guide, but no more sweet and gentle than prudent and just.”
• “Grant it to me Apollo, that I may enjoy my possessions in good health, let me be sound in mind; let me not lead a dishonorable old age, nor want the cittern.”