Michel de Montaigne was a French writer and public figure who turned examination of his own experience into the Essays. After working as a magistrate, he withdrew to his family estate in 1571 and devoted increasing attention to reading and writing. The first edition appeared in 1580, and he continued adding to it. Retirement was never complete: travel, friendships, political responsibilities and service as mayor of Bordeaux remained part of a life lived during France’s religious conflicts.
His essays move among ancient books, bodily experiences, public events and apparently small observations. A subject becomes a way of trying out a judgment rather than announcing a final system. He can be playful, searching and contradictory, and he often asks how much of what seems natural is a matter of habit. His attachment to Étienne de La Boétie gives friendship a particular emotional presence in the work. Attention to himself also opens questions about education and the lives of other creatures. These selections follow that movement from a changing self to a friend, a pupil, a cat and an ordinary moment.
Quotations retain the wording of the cited editions. The explanations are Alrewaq’s editorial readings.
01A changing portrait
I do not paint its being, I paint its passage;
Montaigne describes the challenge of writing about a self that changes even while he observes it. The essay is concerned with his method and with repentance. Our reading leaves room for revising a self-description, without assuming that every change is welcome or every past action disappears.
Source & edition · A changing portrait
Essays Book III, chapter 2 · Of Repentance, opening paragraphs
Charles Cotton; edition revised by William Carew Hazlitt (1877).
Montaigne struggles to explain his bond with Étienne de La Boétie through a list of reasons. The response points to the particular people and the relationship they formed. Here we can recognise that an important friendship may exceed a useful description of its benefits.
Source & edition · The particular person
Essays Book I, chapter 28 · Of Friendship, excerpt
Charles Cotton; edition revised by William Carew Hazlitt (1877).
The concluding phrase of a longer sentence answering why he loved his friend.
Montaigne distinguishes understanding from retaining words in memory. His pupil must learn to judge and use what is learned, not simply repeat an authority. Our reading is not against memory or books; it asks when information becomes something we can examine and make sense of.
Source & edition · Learning to judge
Essays Of the Education of Children · Book I (chapter 25 in this edition; commonly 26)
Charles Cotton (1685), as presented by HyperEssays
The complete first clause of a longer sentence contrasting understanding with memorization; chapter numbering varies by edition.
Playing with his cat, Montaigne questions the assumption that he alone directs the encounter. The observation sits within a larger challenge to human intellectual pride. Alrewaq’s question is what another creature might be experiencing in an encounter with us.
Source & edition · Another creature’s view
Essays Book II, chapter 12 · An Apology for Raymond Sebond, excerpt
Charles Cotton; edition revised by William Carew Hazlitt (1877).
The sentence continues with a reference to their play; the other participant is his cat.
Near the close of the Essays, Montaigne turns toward enjoying bodily and ordinary activities without always subordinating them to grander aims. The passage continues with sleep and a walk in an orchard. Here we read attention to an experience as a worthwhile activity in itself.
Source & edition · Being present in ordinary life
Essays Book III, chapter 13 · Of Experience, excerpt
Charles Cotton; edition revised by William Carew Hazlitt (1877).
The first clause of a sentence that continues with sleeping.
