All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
Michel De MontaigneRead
All general judgments are loose and imperfect
Interpretation
What this quote means
General judgments tend to lack precision and accuracy.
Montaigne's quote highlights the inherent flaws in making broad or sweeping generalizations about people, situations, or concepts, suggesting that such judgments fail to capture the complexities and nuances of reality. It emphasizes the importance of understanding individual circumstances rather than relying on oversimplified conclusions.
Themes
JudgmentGeneralizationImperfectionNuancePhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about societal norms, this quote could illustrate the complexity of human behavior.
More from Michel De Montaigne
All quotes βAll 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.
Michel De MontaigneRead
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.
Michel De MontaigneRead
There is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state.
Michel De MontaigneRead
Those who have compared our life to a dream were right... we were sleeping wake, and waking sleep.
Michel De MontaigneRead
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.
Michel De MontaigneRead
Similar quotes
A day will come when beings, now latent in our thoughts and hidden in our loins, shall stand upon Earth as a footstool and laugh, and reach out their hands amidst the stars.
H. G. WellsRead
Whoever serves his country well has no need of ancestors.
VoltaireRead
It seems to me that it was well said by Madama Serenissima, and insisted on by your reverence, that the Holy Scripture cannot err, and that the decrees therein contained are absolutely true and inviolable. But I should have in your place added that, though Scripture cannot err, its expounders and interpreters are liable to err in many ways; and one error in particular would be most grave and most frequent, if we always stopped short at the literal signification of the words.
Galileo GalileiRead
Part of my ancestry is Cherokee. And in that tradition, you become an adult when you're 52.
Alice WalkerRead
No man is above the law, and no man is below it.
Theodore RooseveltRead
Take away the contests of the martyrs, and you have taken away their crowns.
Saint AmbroseRead