All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
Michel De MontaigneRead
Off I go, rummaging about in books for sayings which please me.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a desire for knowledge and the joy of discovering meaningful thoughts in literature.
In this quote, Michel De Montaigne highlights the importance and pleasure derived from exploring literature and seeking out insights that resonate with the individual. It reflects an active engagement with books as a source of wisdom and personal enrichment, embodying the idea that reading is a journey of discovery and self-reflection.
In practice
This quote can be used during a book club meeting to express the joy of discovering meaningful quotes in literature.
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.
We cannot protect our children from life. Therefore, it is essential to prepare them for it. Feeling sorry for children is one of the most seriously damaging attitudes we can have. It so greatly demonstrates to them and to ourselves that we lack faith in them and their ability to cope with adversities.
Oh, magic hour, when a child first knows she can read printed words.
It is those books which a man possesses but does not read which constitute the most suspicious evidence against him.
Miss Caroline seemed unaware that the ragged, denim-shirted and floursack-skirted first grade, most of whom had chopped cotton and fed hogs from the time they were able to walk, were immune to imaginative literature.
In all the twelve years I was at school no one ever succeeded in making me write a Latin verse or learn any Greek except the alphabet.
Reading is not simply an intellectual pursuit but an emotional and spiritual one. It lights the candle in the hurricane lamp of self; that's why it survives
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