All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
Michel De MontaigneRead
There is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state.
Interpretation
Managing a household can be as challenging as governing a country.
Michel De Montaigne's quote suggests that the complexities and frustrations involved in running a household are comparable to those found in political governance. This highlights the often-overlooked difficulties of family management, positing that personal relationships and family dynamics can be just as intricate and demanding as the challenges faced by state leaders.
In practice
In a speech about family values, one could quote Montaigne to emphasize the importance of understanding 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.
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.
I have never seen a greater monster or miracle in the world than myself.
There is no greater mystery than this, that we keep _x000D_ seeking reality though in fact we are reality. We _x000D_ think that there is something hiding reality and that _x000D_ this must be destroyed before reality is gained. _x000D_ How ridiculous! A day will dawn when you will laugh _x000D_ ... at all your past efforts. That which will be the day _x000D_ you laugh is also here and now.
The universe has become not only conscious and aware of itself but capable in some respects of choosing its path into the future--though all three, the consciousness, the knowledge, and the choice, are dispersed over a vast crowd of beings, acting both individually and collectively.
Wherever the fear of God rules in the heart, it will appear both in works of charity and piety, and neither will excuse us from the other.
One judge is coughing his life out into bloody handkerchiefs and the other is burying his wife, and you think this is how God answers your prayers?
A function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purpose when it invites a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger. Speech is often provocative and challenging. It may strike at prejudices and preconceptions and have profound unsettling effects as it passes for acceptance of an idea.
Human affairs are so obscure and various that nothing can be clearly known.
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