All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
Michel De MontaigneRead
For all parts of the body that we see fit to expose to the wind and air are found fit to endure it: face, feet, hands, legs, shoulders, head, according as custom invites us. For if there is a part of us that is tender and that seems as though it should fear the cold, it should be the stomach, where digestion takes place; our fathers left it uncovered, and our ladies, soft and delicate as they are, sometimes go half bare down to the navel.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on human resilience and the norms surrounding exposure to the elements.
Montaigne's quote explores the relationship between human bodies and the environment, suggesting that the parts we expose to the wind are conditioned to endure it, highlighting a philosophical view on tolerance and adaptability. He contrasts this with the vulnerability of the stomach, emphasizing how societal customs shape our perceptions of strength and exposure, pointing out that both strong and delicate individuals conform to these societal norms, which challenge our assumptions about exposure and vulnerability.
Themes
ResilienceExposureCustomsVulnerabilityAdaptability
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about resilience during a public speaking event.
More from Michel De Montaigne
All quotes →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.
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
Of all the things of a man's soul which he has within him, justice is the greatest good and injustice the greatest evil.
PlatoRead
Addiction has the capacity to disconnect the human will and nullify moral agency. It can rob one of the power to decide.
Boyd K. PackerRead
The more we are proud that the Bethlehem story is plain enough to be understood by the shepherds, and almost by the sheep, the more do we let ourselves go, in dark and gorgeous imaginative frescoes or pageants about the mystery and majesty of the Three Magian Kings.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead
The people's instincts are still right. You see them come to the rescue of someone-a child who falls down a well-hundreds of people rush to help, and labor and equipment are volunteered without any thought of who's going to pay for it. This is a basic feeling in Americans. They don't stand back in such a circumstance and ask what the government's going to do about it.
Ronald ReaganRead
Memory is often less about the truth than about what we want it to be.
David HalberstamRead
Prana is implicate to matter but explicate to mind; mind is implicate to prana but explicate to soul; soul is implicate to mind but explicate to spirit; and the spirit is the source and suchness of the entire sequence.
Ken WilberRead