All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
Michel De MontaigneRead
We must reserve a back shop all our own entirely free, in which to establish our real liberty and our principal retreat and solitude.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of having a personal space for freedom and introspection.
Montaigne suggests that everyone needs a private sanctuary where they can reflect and cultivate their true sense of liberty. This 'back shop' serves as a retreat from the chaos of life, allowing for personal growth and authentic self-expression, underscoring the necessity of solitude for deep thought and freedom.
Themes
SolitudeLibertyFreedomIntrospectionPersonal Space
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of mental health, one might say, 'As Montaigne noted, we must reserve a back shop all our own to reflect on our true liberty.'
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
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A book has to dig through the wounds, more, it has cause a new one, a book it has to be dangerous.
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I have tried to protect myself against men, to react against their madness to discern its source; I have listened and I have seen--and I have been afraid of acting for the same motives or for any motive whatever, of believing in the same ghosts or in any other ghost, of letting myself be engulfed by the same intoxications or by some other... afraid, in short, of raving in common and of expiring in a horde of ecstasies.
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The secularists have not wrecked divine things; but the secularists have wrecked secular things, if that is any comfort to them. The Titans did not scale heaven; but they laid waste the world.
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In the Cross is salvation; in the Cross is life; in the Cross is protection against our enemies; in the Cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness; in the Cross is strength of mind; in the Cross is joy of spirit; in the Cross is excellence of virtue; in the Cross is perfection of holiness. There is no salvation of soul, nor hope of eternal life, save in the Cross.
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That a person cannot and consequently will not defend himself, does not yet cast disgrace upon him in our eyes ; but we despise the person who has neither the ability nor the good will for revenge whether it be a man or a woman.
Friedrich NietzscheRead