“We must not attach knowledge to the mind, we have to incorporate it there.”

— Michel de Montaigne, Essais, Book I, Ch. 25 (wr. 1571–92; pub. 1580–95)

About Michel de Montaigne

1533 – 1592

French Renaissance philosopher, the inventor of the personal essay. His 'Essays' (1580) explore friendship, self-knowledge and human nature.

“Because it was he, because it was I.”

“All passions that suffer themselves to be relished and digested are but moderate.”

“He who should teach men to die would at the same time teach them to live.”

“Why, what is weeping and sighing? A judgement. What is misfortune? A judgement.”

“Remember that all is opinion.”

“The universe is flux, life is opinion.”

“He had only one vanity; he thought he could give advice better than any other person.”

“Perfection of means and confusion of goals seem—in my opinion—to characterize our age.”

“The value of a college education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think.”