A quotation from Montaigne

We readily inquire, “Does he know Greek or Latin?” “Can he write poetry and prose?” But what matters most is what we put last: “Has he become better and wiser?” We ought to find out not who understands most but who understands best. We work merely to fill the memory, leaving the understanding and the sense of right and wrong empty.
 
[Nous enquerons volontiers, Sçait-il du Grec ou du Latin ? escrit-il en vers ou en prose ? mais, s’il est devenu meilleur ou plus advisé, c’estoit le principal, & c’est ce qui demeure derriere. Il falloit s’enquerir qui est mieux sçavant, non qui est plus sçavant. Nous ne travaillons qu’à remplir la memoire, & laissons l’entendement & la conscience vuide.]

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essay (yyyy), “Of Pedantry[Du pedantisme] (1572-1578), Essays, Book 1, ch. 24 (1.24) (1595) [tr. Screech (1987), ch. 25]

Sourcing, notes, alternate translations: wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/…

“Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.”
#Montaigne, 1580

Montaigne (69)

Montaigne citeert Lucretius (in 1.53):

‘Zolang wat wij begeren onbereikbaar is, schijnt het ons
Boven alles te gaan; zodra wij het hebben, begeren wij
Iets anders. Steeds blijft onze dorst gelijk.

Montaigne (35)

Weer zo'n gedachte waarbij je denkt: 'heeft hij dit in 2024 (en niet rond 1580) geschreven'?

'Het is een gevaarlijke en verregaande vorm van arrogantie die duidt op een dwaas soort overmoed, om te verachten wat je niet begrijpt'. (1.27)

Everybody should have a blog or a personal internet corner, to publish and share your thoughts, notes, and ideas. When it comes to publishing, where you write your drafts and posts also matters.

Having a streamlined publishing process is the goal. I recently wrote about #Montaigne, a service that allows you to create a blog, website, or portfolio by only using #AppleNotes. This means, you can publish your posts from the app you might already use for writing anyway.

https://creativerly.com/create-a-website-blog-or-portfolio-using-only-apple-notes-with-montaigne/

"I weary of these dogmatizers. I tire of these hacks of routine, who deny the dogmas. I neither affirm nor deny. I stand here to try the case. I am here to consider [...] how it is."

#Emerson on #Montaigne, the man "representative" of the skeptic, resulting in #pragmatism avant la lettre (1850).

@pragmatism
@philosophy

Kotaku: The Thing That Makes This Musical RPG Special Is Also Its Worst Aspect https://kotaku.com/stray-gods-review-musical-songs-grace-laura-bailey-1850747942 #gaming #tech #kotaku #straygodstheroleplayingmusical #theroleplayingmusical #entertainmentculture #greekmythology #ashleyjohnson #austinwintory #laurabailey #troybaker #montaigne #spotify #stray #eros #rpg

#Montaigne: The gateway drug to #Schopenhaurer.

@quotesofnote Interesting that you mention Montaigne's Essays. While traveling this past weekend I picked up a used copy of #SarahBakewell's "How to Live, or A Life of #Montaigne." Bakewell draws heavily on Montaigne's essays to explore how he might have answered the question "How to Live" in a variety of ways. Perhaps it will lead me back to Montaigne himself.

Wherever your life ends,
it is all there.
The advantage of living
is not measured by length
but by use.
Some people have lived long
and lived little.
Attend to it while you are in it.
It lies in your will,
not in the number of years,
for you to have lived enough.
#Montaigne
#DorothyStratten
#philosophy

#Montaigne must have influenced #Schopenhauer's vibe. Both are pretty negative about the "price" of #rationality when humans are compared to animals. I can find the relevant Schopenhauer passage if it's of interest

“What I do easily and naturally I can no longer do if I order myself to do it by strict and express command. … I do nothing without gaiety.”

That's the #NYT quoting #Montaigne to try to decide whether #lazyness and the French refusal to have minimum #retirement age moved to 64 is necessarily #unproductive ... or not.

#retraites #pensions #strike

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/opinion/french-lazy.html?

"#Montaigne the #Bodhisattva?": A mini-essay on how much we ought to care about ourselves in comparison to all sentient beings, with a paired analysis of Śantideva and Montaigne: https://peterlevine.ws/?p=28120

Slightly niche request, #mastronauts

I need to find a quote from #Montaigne - I know someone is posting Montaigne excerpts on here somewhere, but I can't find the account.

Can anyone help me identify the section where he references the afterlife (there is only one instance I think), in the context of saying it's something other people think about? Thank you!