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Democritus and Heraclitus were two philosophers, of whom the first, finding the condition of man vain and ridiculous, never went out in public but wi… - Michel de Montaigne
" "Democritus and Heraclitus were two philosophers, of whom the first, finding the condition of man vain and ridiculous, never went out in public but with a mocking and laughing face; whereas Heraclitus, having pity and compassion on this same condition of ours, wore a face perpetually sad, and eyes filled with tears.
I prefer the first humor; not because it is pleasanter to laugh than to weep, but because it is more disdainful, and condemns us more than the other; and it seems to me that we can never be despised as much as we deserve. Pity and commiseration are mingled with some esteem for the thing we pity; the things we laugh at we consider worthless. I do not think there is as much unhappiness in us as vanity, nor as much malice as stupidity. We are not so full of evil as of inanity; we are not as wretched as we are worthless.
Thus Diogenes, who pottered about by himself, rolling his tub and turning up his nose at the great Alexander, considering us as flies or bags of wind, was really a sharper and more stinging judge, to my taste, than Timon, who was surnamed the hater of men. For what we hate we take seriously. Timon wished us ill, passionately desired our ruin, shunned association with us as dangerous, as with wicked men depraved by nature. Diogenes esteemed us so little that contact with us could neither disturb him nor affect him, and avoided our company, not through fear of association with us, but through disdain of it; he considered us incapable of doing either good or evil....
Our own peculiar condition is that we are as fit to be laughed at as able to laugh.
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About Michel de Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne (Michel Eyquem, lord of the manor of Montaigne, Dordogne) (28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592) was an influential French Renaissance writer, generally considered to be the inventor of the personal essay.
Biography information from Wikiquote
Also Known As
Alternative Names:
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
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Miquèu Eiquèm de Montanha
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Miqueu Eiquem de Montanha
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Shorter versions of this quote
Democritus and Heraclitus were two philosophers, of whom the first, finding the condition of man vain and ridiculous, never went out in public but with a mocking and laughing face; whereas Heraclitus, having pity and compassion on this same condition of ours, wore a face perpetually sad, and eyes filled with tears. I prefer the first humor; not because it is pleasanter to laugh than to weep, but because it is more disdainful, and condemns us more than the other; and it seems to me that we can never be despised as much as we deserve. Pity and commiseration are mingled with some esteem for the thing we pity; the things we laugh at we consider worthless. I do not think there is as much unhappiness in us as vanity, nor as much malice as stupidity. We are not so full of evil as of inanity; we are not as wretched as we are worthless.
Additional quotes by Michel de Montaigne
C'est étrange que les choses en soient venues à ce point à notre époque, et que la philosophie ne soit, même pour les gens intelligents, qu'un mot creux et chimérique, qui ne soit d'aucune utilité et n'ait aucune valeur, ni dans l'opinion générale, ni dansla réalité. Je crois que la cause en est que ses grandes avenues ont été occupées par des discussions oiseuses. On a grand tort de la décrire comme quelque chose d'inaccessible aux enfants, et de lui faire un visage renfrogné, sourcilleux et terrible : qui donc lui a mis ce masque d'un visage blême et hideux? Il n'est rien de plus gai, de plus allègre et de plus enjoué, et pour un peu, je dirais même : folâtre... Elle ne prêche que la fête et le bon temps. Une mine triste et abattue : voila qui montre bien que ce n'est pas laqu'elle habite.
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