Article reveals how a 16th-century French aristocrat turned personal musings into a literary revolution. Through wit, doubt, and deep introspection, Montaigne forever changed how we write and reflect on life.
Michel de Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne invented the Essay coined the term essai, meaning “trial,” to describe his thought experiments on paper.
He often wrote in a circular tower of his château, where he surrounded himself with Latin quotes on the walls.
Montaigne believed the key to wisdom was acknowledging how little we actually know.
His famous motto “Que sais-je?”—“What do I know?”—summed up his humble, curious approach to truth.
He pioneered the idea of writing about everyday life—his bowel habits, his cat, his laziness—all became philosophical topics.
Michel de Montaigne: The Nobleman Who Invented the Essay was among the first to argue that indigenous people were more enlightened than European colonizers.
He survived the plague, civil war, and near-death from a horse-riding accident—which profoundly shaped his views on mortality.
Montaigne published three volumes of essays during his lifetime, each more personal and daring than the last.
His style was casual, digressive, and self-aware—centuries ahead of modern blog writing.
He served as mayor of Bordeaux twice, balancing politics with his love for solitude and study.
Michel de Montaigne rejected dogma and valued self-examination above social approval.
Shakespeare likely read Montaigne’s essays—his fingerprints are all over Hamlet and The Tempest.
Montaigne confessed contradictions freely, believing that humans were too complex for simple consistency.
His essays became so influential that French schools still teach them today, over 400 years later.
He once said, “Every man bears the whole form of the human condition”—a line that captures his timeless humanism.
