Essays by Montaigne

Michel de Montaigne was a sixteenth century French philosopher and a key figure of the French Renaissance. His initial career was as a politician and statesman, and he had connections to the French monarchy. Upon inheriting his father’s country estate he settled down to a life of reading, writing, and introspection. In 1580 he published his extensive Essais, whose uniquely personal perspective on subjects, including himself, established the modern form of the essay. Philippe Desan is the Howard L. Willett Professor Emeritus of History of Culture at the University of Chicago. He specializes in the history of ideas in the Renaissance and is a leading Montaigne scholar. His biography, Montaigne. A Life, was published in 2018. Tom Butler-Bowdon is series editor of the Capstone Classics series and has written introductions for Plato’s Republic, Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, Machiavelli’s The Prince, and Marx’ & Engels’ The Communist Manifesto. A graduate of the London School of Economics, he is also the author of 50 Philosophy Classics, 50 Politics Classics, and 50 Psychology Classics www.butler-bowdon.com

• To the Reader xliiiBook I 18 On Idleness 39 On Liars 514 That the Way We See Good and Evil Depends on the Opinion We Have of Them 1320 To Study Philosophy Is to Learn How to Die 3921 On the Power of Imagination 6323 On Custom, and That We Should Not Easily Change an Established Law 7726 On the Education of Children 9928 On Friendship 14730 On Moderation 16531 On Cannibals 17539 On Solitude 193Book II 2091 On the Inconstancy of Our Actions 2116 Use Makes Perfect 22110 On Books 23511 On Cruelty 25118 On Giving the Lie 27130 On a Monstrous Child 27735 On Three Good Women 281Book III 2911 On Profit and Honesty 2932 On Repentance 3135 On Some Verses of Virgil 3316 On Coaches 4118 On the Art of Conversation 4359 On Vanity 46513 On Experience 541

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