All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
Michel De MontaigneRead
There is little less trouble in governing a private family than a whole kingdom.
Interpretation
Governance of a family can be as complex as governance of a larger society.
This quote by Michel De Montaigne suggests that managing the dynamics and responsibilities within a family can be just as difficult as overseeing an entire kingdom. It highlights the intricacies of interpersonal relationships and the challenges faced in maintaining order, harmony, and effective leadership in both small and large settings.
In practice
A speaker at a family leadership seminar might use this quote to emphasize the importance of family dynamics.
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.
Whether wine is a nourishment, medicine or poison is a matter of dosage
In theory it is easy to convince an ignorant person; in actual life, men not only object to offer themselves to be convinced, but hate the man who has convinced them.
Those of us who were brought up as Christians and have lost our faith have retained the sense of sin without the saving belief in redemption. This poisons our thought and so paralyses us in action.
Our characters are the result of our conduct.
We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.
Life is like a book that never ends. Chapters close, but not the book itself.
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