Picture a round stone tower at the corner of a country estate in southwestern France. Climb the stairs and you reach a library lined with about a thousand books, its wooden beams carved with short sayings from the wise writers its owner loved.
In 1571 Michel de Montaigne stepped back from public life and moved his days into that tower to read, think and write. What came out of it was a new kind of book, the essay, and a warm, curious voice that still feels like a friend talking across the table.
I love that tower for the first Saturday in November. The clocks turned back last weekend, the mornings are dark and cozy, and a free Saturday is the perfect room of your own.
This is part of Timeless Authors, our daily series on the writers who change ordinary days. Earlier this week Leo Tolstoy showed us the love we live by. Today Michel de Montaigne shows us how to belong to ourselves.
Michel de Montaigne (1533 to 1592)
French writer and philosopher of everyday life, whose Essays gave the world a new literary form.
The Teaching of Michel de Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne taught that the greatest work of a human life is simply to live it well, with attention, cheer and honest curiosity about yourself. He believed every ordinary person carries the whole of human nature, so your own days are worth studying. For Montaigne, wisdom shows itself as a continual cheerfulness.
The glorious masterpiece of man is to live to purpose
Michel de Montaigne, Of Experience (Book III, chapter XIII), translated by Charles Cotton, edited by William Carew Hazlitt
A masterpiece. Montaigne gives that grand word to daily life itself. Just before this line he praises the person who knows how to take repose, saying they have done more than someone who has taken empires and cities. Your Saturday rest counts as real work on the masterpiece.
In Their Own Words, Favorite and Lesser Known Quotes
Montaigne wrote in French. Every quote below comes from the classic English translation by Charles Cotton, as revised and edited by William Carew Hazlitt in 1877, free to read in full as The Essays of Montaigne on Wikisource.
Be Fully Where You Are
When I dance, I dance; when I sleep, I sleep.
Michel de Montaigne, Of Experience (Book III, chapter XIII), translated by Charles Cotton, edited by William Carew Hazlitt
Montaigne goes on to describe walking alone in a beautiful orchard and gently calling his wandering thoughts back to the walk, to the sweetness of the place and to himself. One thing at a time is a lovely rule for a weekend.
Belong to Yourself
The greatest thing in the world is for a man to know that he is his own.
Michel de Montaigne, Of Solitude (Book I, chapter XXXVIII), translated by Charles Cotton, edited by William Carew Hazlitt
we must reserve a backshop, wholly our own and entirely free, wherein to settle our true liberty, our principal solitude and retreat.
Michel de Montaigne, Of Solitude (Book I, chapter XXXVIII), translated by Charles Cotton, edited by William Carew Hazlitt
A backshop is the little room behind a store where the owner rests between customers. Montaigne invites you to keep one inside yourself, a calm place that stays yours all day long.
Cheerfulness Is the Sign of Wisdom
The most manifest sign of wisdom is a continual cheerfulness
Michel de Montaigne, Of the Education of Children (Book I, chapter XXV), translated by Charles Cotton, edited by William Carew Hazlitt
‘Tis an absolute and, as it were, a divine perfection, for a man to know how loyally to enjoy his being.
Michel de Montaigne, Of Experience (Book III, chapter XIII), translated by Charles Cotton, edited by William Carew Hazlitt
For Montaigne, a wise person looks happy. Enjoying your own life, loyally and fully, is something close to divine, and it starts with something as small as savoring breakfast.
A Friendship Beyond Words
because it was he, because it was I.
Michel de Montaigne, Of Friendship (Book I, chapter XXVII), translated by Charles Cotton, edited by William Carew Hazlitt
Montaigne wrote this about his beloved friend Étienne de La Boétie. Some friendships simply feel like home, and this morning is a beautiful time to thank one of yours.
Study Yourself With Kindness
I study myself more than any other subject
Michel de Montaigne, Of Experience (Book III, chapter XIII), translated by Charles Cotton, edited by William Carew Hazlitt
every man carries the entire form of human condition.
Michel de Montaigne, Of Repentance (Book III, chapter II), translated by Charles Cotton, edited by William Carew Hazlitt
Montaigne looked at himself with curiosity and good humor, and in his own small life he found all of humanity. Your thoughts, moods and habits are worth that same gentle attention.
Who Was Michel de Montaigne?
Michel de Montaigne was born on February 28, 1533, at the Château de Montaigne near Bordeaux, in southwestern France. His father, Pierre Eyquem, later served as mayor of Bordeaux and raised his son in an unusual way, with a tutor and a whole household who spoke to the boy only in Latin. So Latin became his first language.
As a young man he served as a magistrate, first in the new tax court of Périgueux and, from 1557, in the Parliament of Bordeaux. There he met Étienne de La Boétie, and the two became devoted friends until La Boétie died in 1563. In 1565 Montaigne married Françoise de la Chassaigne.
In 1571 he retired to his family estate to read, meditate and write, in a library set in the castle’s tower. The first two books of his Essays appeared in Bordeaux in 1580. He then traveled for about fifteen months through France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy, and while he was away he was elected mayor of Bordeaux, serving two terms until July 1585.
The 1588 edition of the Essays added the thirteen chapters of Book III, and Montaigne kept refining his book until he died at his château in September 1592. For a fuller life, read his biography at Britannica and the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry.
What Living to Purpose Really Means
Living to purpose means treating your ordinary day as the main event. Montaigne admired great deeds, and he saw the deepest skill of all in eating well, resting well, loving your friends and knowing yourself.
So instead of asking, what big thing should I accomplish this weekend, try asking, how fully can I live the hours already in front of me?
Seneca told us life is long if you know how to use it, and Montaigne read Seneca with delight. For a deeper look at his whole life and work, our complete guide to Michel de Montaigne is a lovely next step.
Why This Teaching Fits Today
Today is the first Saturday of November. The clocks turned back last Sunday, the evenings arrive early and the whole season invites us indoors, toward books, warm drinks and long talks with friends. Montaigne built a whole life around those simple goods.
A Saturday morning is your own little tower. You get to dance when you dance, sleep when you sleep and spend a few unhurried hours with yourself on purpose.
Your Morning Practice, the Tower Hour
This takes about fifteen minutes.
- Climb your tower. Choose one quiet corner, a chair by the window or the end of the kitchen table, and make it yours for the morning.
- Do one thing at a time. Make your coffee or tea and give it your full attention, the way Montaigne gave his whole self to the dance.
- Write one honest page. Write freely about a single question, what made me happy this week, and let your thoughts wander and return like his did in the orchard.
- Name your friend. Think of one friend who simply feels like home and send them a warm message today.
- Choose your masterpiece. Pick one ordinary thing you will do beautifully today, a meal, a walk or a long nap, and treat it as your masterpiece.
Make it stick with an if then plan. If I sit down with my first warm drink this Saturday, then I will write one honest page before I open my phone.
Essential Reading
- The Essays of Montaigne, translated by Charles Cotton and edited by William Carew Hazlitt (1877). The complete Essays, also free on Project Gutenberg.
- Of Experience (Book III, chapter XIII). His final essay and his warmest, full of dancing, sleeping and living to purpose.
- Of Friendship (Book I, chapter XXVII). His tender tribute to Étienne de La Boétie.
- Of Solitude (Book I, chapter XXXVIII). The home of the backshop, a room of your own inside.
Quick Answers About Michel de Montaigne
Who was Michel de Montaigne?
Michel de Montaigne (1533 to 1592) was a French writer and magistrate born at the Château de Montaigne near Bordeaux. His Essays established a new literary form, the personal essay, and he served two terms as mayor of Bordeaux.
What is Montaigne’s most famous quote?
Many readers love his line from Of Experience, “When I dance, I dance; when I sleep, I sleep.” Others treasure his words on his friendship with Étienne de La Boétie, “because it was he, because it was I.”
What did Montaigne mean by living to purpose?
In Of Experience he calls living to purpose the glorious masterpiece of man. He meant that living each ordinary day well, with attention and calm, is the greatest work a person can do, greater than conquests or riches.
What is the backshop in Montaigne?
In Of Solitude Montaigne advises keeping a backshop, wholly our own and entirely free. It is an inner room of the mind where you can rest, reflect and return to yourself, whatever is happening outside.
Can I read Montaigne for free?
Absolutely. The classic Charles Cotton translation, revised and edited by William Carew Hazlitt in 1877, is free to read on Wikisource and Project Gutenberg.
Back to the Tower
Montaigne climbed his tower stairs day after day, sat among his books and wrote down what it feels like to be a person. That honest, cheerful attention became one of the most loved books in the world.
Your tower is waiting this morning too.
The glorious masterpiece of man is to live to purpose
Michel de Montaigne, Of Experience (Book III, chapter XIII), translated by Charles Cotton, edited by William Carew Hazlitt
What ordinary thing will you turn into your masterpiece today?
Start early. Start living. Start today.
Complement this with Leo Tolstoy on Love, the Present Moment and Faith, Emerson’s Case for the Life Only You Can Live and Seneca on Time, Fear and Friendship.
Want a calm, intentional start every day? Hold Until Sunrise is our little app for mornings that matter.
For a little goodness in your inbox every Sunday, join us here.
With love, Paolo
Sources
- Michel de Montaigne, Of Experience (Book III, chapter XIII), The Essays of Montaigne, translated by Charles Cotton, edited by William Carew Hazlitt (1877), Wikisource
- Michel de Montaigne, Of Solitude (Book I, chapter XXXVIII), The Essays of Montaigne, translated by Charles Cotton, edited by William Carew Hazlitt (1877), Wikisource
- Michel de Montaigne, Of the Education of Children (Book I, chapter XXV), The Essays of Montaigne, translated by Charles Cotton, edited by William Carew Hazlitt (1877), Wikisource
- Michel de Montaigne, Of Friendship (Book I, chapter XXVII), The Essays of Montaigne, translated by Charles Cotton, edited by William Carew Hazlitt (1877), Wikisource
- Michel de Montaigne, Of Repentance (Book III, chapter II), The Essays of Montaigne, translated by Charles Cotton, edited by William Carew Hazlitt (1877), Wikisource
- Essays of Michel de Montaigne, Complete, Project Gutenberg
- Michel de Montaigne, Britannica
- Michel de Montaigne, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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Carry this into tomorrow morning
The practice in this post lives in an app we built, Hold Until Sunrise. Your alarm becomes a moment of stillness. You hold your phone, rest with one affirmation, and let the sunrise welcome you into the day. Begin tomorrow gently and on your own terms. Find it on the App Store here.