About Michel de Montaigne:
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne is noted for its merging of casual anecdotes and autobiography with serious intellectual insight; his massive volume Essais (translated literally as "Attempts" or "Trials") contains some of the most influential essays ever written. Montaigne had a direct influence on writers all over the world, including Francis Bacon, René Descartes, Blaise Pascal, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Albert Hirschman, William Hazlitt, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Friedrich Nietzsche, Stefan Zweig, Eric Hoffer, Isaac Asimov, and possibly on the later works of William Shakespeare.
To an atheist all writings tend to atheism: he corrupts the most innocent matter with his own venom.
Michel de MontaigneAs for dying we can only assay that once; we are all apprentices when it comes to that
Michel de MontaigneMan is certainly stark mad; he cannot make a worm, and yet he will be making gods by dozens.
Michel de MontaigneEvery other knowledge is harmful to him who does not have knowledge of goodness.
Michel de MontaigneOur zeal works wonders, whenever it supports our inclination toward hatred, cruelty, ambition.
Michel de MontaigneIf I speak of myself in different ways, that is because I look at myself in different ways.
Michel de Montaigne