Till you have rendered yourself one before whom you dare not trip, and till you have a bashfulness and respect for yourself, "Obversentur species honestae animo;" ["Let honest things be ever present to the mind" -- Cicero, Tusc.Quaes., ii.

22.] present continually to your imagination Cato, Phocion, and Aristides, in whose presence the fools themselves will hide their faults, and make them controllers of all your intentions; should these deviate from virtue, your respect to those will set you right; they will keep you in this way to be contented with yourself; to borrow nothing of any other but yourself; to stay and fix your soul in certain and limited thoughts, wherein she may please herself, and having understood the true and real goods, which men the more enjoy the more they understand, to rest satisfied, without desire of prolongation of life or name." This is the precept of the true and natural philosophy, not of a boasting and prating philosophy, such as that of the two former.
ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: A man must either imitate the vicious or hate them Abhorrence of the patient are necessary circumstances Acquire by his writings an immortal life Addict thyself to the study of letters Always the perfect religion And hate him so as you were one day to love him Archer that shoots over, misses as much as he that falls short Art that could come to the knowledge of but few persons Being over-studious, we impair our health and spoil our humour By the misery of this life, aiming at bliss in another Carnal appetites only supported by use and exercise Coming out of the same hole Common friendships will admit of division Dost thou, then, old man, collect food for others' ears?
Either tranquil life, or happy death Enslave our own contentment to the power of another?
Entertain us with fables: astrologers and physicians Everything has many faces and several aspects Extremity of philosophy is hurtful Friendships that the law and natural obligation impose upon us Gewgaw to hang in a cabinet or at the end of the tongue Gratify the gods and nature by massacre and murder He took himself along with him He will choose to be alone Headache should come before drunkenness High time to die when there is more ill than good in living Honour of valour consists in fighting, not in subduing How uncertain duration these accidental conveniences are I bequeath to Areteus the maintenance of my mother I for my part always went the plain way to work.
I love temperate and moderate natures.
Impostures: very strangeness lends them credit In solitude, be company for thyself .-- Tibullus In the meantime, their halves were begging at their doors Interdict all gifts betwixt man and wife It is better to die than to live miserable Judge by the eye of reason, and not from common report Knot is not so sure that a man may not half suspect it will slip Lascivious poet: Homer Laying themselves low to avoid the danger of falling Leave society when we can no longer add anything to it Little less trouble in governing a private family than a kingdom Love we bear to our wives is very lawful Man (must) know that he is his own Marriage Men should furnish themselves with such things as would float Methinks I am no more than half of myself Must for the most part entertain ourselves with ourselves Never represent things to you simply as they are No effect of virtue, to have stronger arms and legs Not in a condition to lend must forbid himself to borrow Nothing is so firmly believed, as what we least know O my friends, there is no friend: Aristotle Oftentimes agitated with divers passions Ordinary friendships, you are to walk with bridle in your hand Ought not only to have his hands, but his eyes, too, chaste Our judgments are yet sick Perfect friendship I speak of is indivisible Philosophy Phusicians cure by by misery and pain Prefer in bed, beauty before goodness Pretending to find out the cause of every accident Reputation: most useless, frivolous, and false coin that passes Reserve a backshop, wholly our own and entirely free Rest satisfied, without desire of prolongation of life or name Stilpo lost wife, children, and goods Stilpo: thank God, nothing was lost of his Take two sorts of grist out of the same sack Taking things upon trust from vulgar opinion Tearing a body limb from limb by racks and torments The consequence of common examples There are defeats more triumphant than victories They can neither lend nor give anything to one another They have yet touched nothing of that which is mine They must be very hard to please, if they are not contented Things that engage us elsewhere and separate us from ourselves This decay of nature which renders him useless, burdensome This plodding occupation of bookes is as painfull as any other Those immodest and debauched tricks and postures Though I be engaged to one forme, I do not tie the world unto it Title of barbarism to everything that is not familiar To give a currency to his little pittance of learning To make their private advantage at the public expense Under fortune's favour, to prepare myself for her disgrace Vice of confining their belief to their own capacity We have lived enough for others We have more curiosity than capacity We still carry our fetters along with us When time begins to wear things out of memory Wherever the mind is perplexed, it is in an entire disorder Who can flee from himself Wise man never loses anything if he have himself Wise whose invested money is visible in beautiful villas Write what he knows, and as much as he knows, but no more You and companion are theatre enough to one another ESSAYS OF MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE Translated by Charles Cotton Edited by William Carew Hazlitt 1877 CONTENTS OF VOLUME 7.
XXXIX.

A consideration upon Cicero.
XL.

That the relish of good and evil depends in a great measure upon opinion.
XLI.

Not to communicate a man's honour.
XLII.