Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete

by Michel de Montaigne

The Essays of Michel de Montaigne, published in three books between 1580 and 1588, invented a form: short or long pieces in which the author follows his own mind on any subject that occurs to him, from cannibals, thumbs and smells to friendship, education, death and the inconstancy of our actions. Montaigne, a Gascon nobleman who retired from public life to his tower library at thirty-eight, takes himself as his subject, quotes the ancients constantly and distrusts every certainty, including his own. The long Apology for Raymond Sebond is the fullest statement of his skepticism. Charles Cotton's translation of 1685 and 1686, revised by later editors, is given here complete; its seventeenth-century English suits Montaigne's conversational and digressive manner. It is available to read online in your browser on Vinteuil, with the first chapter free.