Cover of Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete

Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete

by Michel de Montaigne

Reading level
Fairly demanding
Price
Free

About the book

"Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete" by Michel de Montaigne is a collection of essays written between approximately 1570 and 1592. Montaigne set out to record his own character and humors with complete frankness, creating a new literary form he called "attempts" or "tests." The essays range from profound topics like conscience and sadness to trivial subjects like smells, examining human nature through skeptical inquiry. Writing during France's religious wars, Montaigne questioned certainty itself, asking "What do I know?" while freely associating ideas and drawing on classical sources.

  • French essays

Updated September 2026. Public domain in the USA. Text and summary from Project Gutenberg eBook #3600. Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete on Wikipedia.

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