Michel de Montaigne

"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves."

"The honest man speaks the truth by accident and design; the dishonest by accident and not by design."

"The most fruitful and natural exercise of the mind is conversation."

"When I am at my best, I can soar on the wings of thought."

"Every person is born into a world they do not understand but must learn to navigate."

"The lust for power is not rooted in strength but in weakness."

"Patience and time do more than strength or passion."

"We should reserve the right to think, even if we surrender the right to speak."

"The art of knowing is the art of seeing."

"Nature never wears the same expression twice, for her moods are as many as the moments."

"A man's perfection does not consist in trying to become someone else."

"We are dying at every moment of our lives."

"The question is not how to live, but whether we are willing to ask the question at all."

"What would life be without friendship? It would be like a world without the sun."

"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them."

"The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude."

"I praise loudly; I blame softly."

"The only way to begin to get out of the pit of ignorance is to ask questions."

"We must respect our fellow humans but not idolize any of them."

"It is better to have a short life full of activity than a long one full of idleness."

"The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it."

"Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind."

"Man cannot make principles; he can only discover them."

"A man who does not see clearly through others is easily deceived by them."

"The greatest lovers are sometimes the most difficult friends."

"What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself."

"If we fear nothing, we are not truly brave; we are simply foolish."

"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods; a rapture on the lonely shore."

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."

"The first rule of being helpful is not to make things worse."