"There is no wish more natural than the wish to know."

Michel de Montaigne Philosophy See all quotes by Michel de Montaigne →

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“The day of your birth is one day’s advance towards the grave.”

“All the opinions of the world agree in this, that pleasure is our end.”

“Je veux que la mort me trouve plantant mes choux.”

“He who should teach men to die would at the same time teach them to live.”

“C'est ce de quoi j'ai le plus de peur que la peur.”

“We are, I know not how, double in ourselves, which is the cause that what we believe we do not believe, and cannot disengage ourselves from what we condemn.”

Resonant Thoughts

"I think that the audience for poetry has widened in recent years and maybe it's continuing to widen—I hope so. The whole poetry slam phenomenon has created an interest and widened the audience for poe…"

— Nathaniel Mackey

Literature1947

#life

"It is much easier to prejudge than to judge. It saves a lot of work to write about all the intellectual baggage one brings to the work. It is harder, even somewhat daunting, to start from scratch with…"

— Donald Vroon

Music1942

#knowledge

"I have lived in the monster and I know its insides; and my sling is the sling of David."

— José Martí

Literature1853–1895

#knowledge

"And I want you to know that I have no intention whatever of ever walking away from the job that the people elected me to do for the people of the United States."

— Richard Nixon

Politics1965–1992

#knowledge