Essays (Essais)

What is this book about?

At thirty-eight Montaigne retired and began writing something that had not existed before: not about God or grand truths, but about himself — his fears, habits, illnesses, and how his judgments changed. He writes that he fears death, that his memory is poor, that in different moods he reaches opposite conclusions about the same matter. The form came to be called the essay (essai, literally 'an attempt'). The book's hundred-odd pieces, of varying length and no system, form one man's twenty-year record of self-observation.

Why read it?

It demonstrates a rare attitude: doubting one's own judgment without being paralyzed by the doubt. Montaigne neither proclaims truth nor abandons judgment; he keeps testing whether he thinks something merely because he is who he is. In an environment of surplus opinion and surplus certainty, this gentle but thorough self-doubt is the most effective antidote.

Core Ideas

• 'What do I know' is worth asking more often than 'what do I believe'.
• Human judgment shifts with bodily state, age, and circumstance, and therefore needs continual rechecking.
• Accepting one's ordinariness is the precondition of clarity.
• Writing can be an instrument of self-observation, not merely a vessel for opinion.

What questions does this book try to answer?

• How can one doubt one's own judgment without abandoning judgment altogether?
• How much of our opinion comes from reasoning, and how much from temperament and habit?
• How should one live alongside fundamental questions that cannot be resolved?

Who should read it?

For readers with strong opinions who tend to harden in argument. Also for anyone who wants to start writing but does not know where to begin: Montaigne proves that writing about oneself can sustain a lifetime.

How to Read It

Do not read cover to cover; that attempt usually fails. Start with short pieces such as 'Of Idleness', 'Of Fear', and 'Of Books', two or three at a time. When a topic touches your present situation, stop and write a paragraph in reply — this book is meant to be contradicted and continued.