All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
Michel De MontaigneRead
For among other things he had been counseled to bring me to love knowledge and duty by my own choice, without forcing my will, and to educate my soul entirely through gentleness and freedom.
Interpretation
True education fosters a love for knowledge and duty through gentle guidance rather than coercion.
In this quote, Montaigne emphasizes the importance of nurturing a genuine appreciation for knowledge and responsibility. He advocates for an educational approach that promotes personal choice and freedom, allowing individuals to cultivate their intellect and moral character through gentle encouragement rather than forceful imposition.
In practice
In a classroom setting, a teacher can share this quote to inspire a more compassionate and student-centered approach to education.
All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed.
Pythagoras used to say that life resembles the Olympic Games: a few people strain their muscles to carry off a prize; others bring trinkets to sell to the crowd for gain; and some there are, and not the worst, who seek no other profit than to look at the show and see how and why everything is done; spectators of the life of other people in order to judge and regulate their own.
There is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state.
Those who have compared our life to a dream were right... we were sleeping wake, and waking sleep.
Such as are in immediate fear of a losing their estates, of banishment, or of slavery, live in perpetual anguish, and lose all appetite and repose; whereas such as are actually poor, slaves, or exiles, ofttimes live as merrily as other folk.
There are five Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the Christian. Most people will never read the first four.
From a good book, I want to be taken to the very edge. I want a glimpse into that outer darkness.
Just once in a while let us exalt the importance of ideas and information.
I always believed you could learn something from nearly everybody you meet, if you're open to it.
If you cannot read all your books, at any rate handle them, and, as it were, fondle them. Let them fall open where they will. Make a voyage of discovery, taking soundings of uncharted seas.
Certainly the prolonged education indispensable to the progress of society is not natural to mankind.
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