Essays

by Michel de Montaigne, Charles Cotton, William Carew Hazlitt

Overview

Considered the inventor of the essay itself, Michel de Montaigne published Essays (Essais, literally "Attempts") in 1850. Known for his skill at merging serious intellectual debate with personal anecdotes, his vast work collects together some of the most influential essays the world has ever seen, shaping the thoughts Blaise Pascal, René Descartes, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Stefan Zweig, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Isaac Asimov among others. Montaigne stated that his aim in writing these works was to describe humankind, including himself, with complete frankness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781775415862
Publisher:	The Floating Press
Publication date:	06/01/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Michel Eyquem, Seigneur de Montaigne, was born in 1533, the son and heir of Pierre, Seigneur de Montaigne (two previous children dying soon after birth). He was brought up to speak Latin as his mother tongue and always retained a Latin turn of mind; though he knew Greek, he preferred to use translations. After studying law he eventually became counselor to the Parlement of Bordeaux. He married in 1565. In 1569 he published his French version of the Natural Theology of Raymond Sebond; his Apology is only partly a defense of Sebond and sets skeptical limits to human reasoning about God, man and nature. He retired in 1571 to his lands at Montaigne, devoting himself to reading and reflection and to composing his Essays (first version, 1580). He loathed the fanaticism and cruelties of the religious wars of the period, but sided with Catholic orthodoxy and legitimate monarchy. He was twice elected Mayor of Bordeaux (1581 and 1583), a post he held for four years. He died at Montaigne (1592) while preparing the final, and richest, edition of his Essays.

Table of Contents

	Of His Task and Theme	11
	Of Pedantism	19
	Of the Institution and Education of Children; to the Lady Diana of Foix, Countess of Gurson	35
	It is Folly to Refer Truth or Falsehood to our Sufficiency	85
	Of Friendship	91
	Of Solitariness	109
	Of the Inequality That is Between Us	125
	Of the Inconstancy of Our Actions	137
	Of Drunkenness	147
	Of Books	159
	Of Cruelty	177
	We Taste Nothing Purely	193
	Of Anger and Choler	199
	Of Profit and Honesty	209
	Of Repenting	223
	Of Three Commerces or Societies	241
	How One Ought to Govern His Will	257