Montaigne – Stefan Zweig
If nothing else, this book encouraged me to take notes after finishing a book. Montaigne began this habit himself, and it became the foundation for his first volumes of Essais. He believed nothing was more important than “knowing thyself” and finding one’s own path. By examining ourselves, we can begin to discover that path. Writing our ideas down is one way to start.
Montaigne was written by Stefan Zweig and is about the life of Michel de Montaigne. Zweig, himself a prolific author, came across Montaigne while living in Brazil. Zweig found himself in Brazil after fleeing Austria during WWII. Zweig devoured all that he could about Montaigne and felt that they were “brothers.” Zweig lived in a small shack in Brazil, where he spent his days furiously reading and writing. Montaigne was raised in a wealthy family, and his father was very influential in his formal and informal education. Montaigne’s father sent him to live with a poor family for his first few years of life, becoming accustomed to having just the bare necessities. When he returned, his father made him learn Latin — not in the way most people learn a language, but as his mother tongue. He had full-time Latin tutors who only spoke to him in Latin. If a family member had to speak to him (if you can’t tell from his name, he is French), they had to ask a tutor how to say what they wanted to say.
When Montaigne went off to school, he struggled; he said that he had a poor memory and didn’t like to follow rules or assignments. This laissez-faire mentality is very apparent throughout his life. Montaigne later said, “To know by heart is not to know; it is to keep what they have given you and store it in your memory.” I love this quote; knowing is deeper than remembering.
As he got into his later teens, he furiously read Latin works and became known as a wise young man. This wisdom was then used to advise others in power.
When his father died, he was put in charge of the estate. This could be thought of as taking over a family business today. It was a lot of work, and he hated it. He was then snubbed for a political position because other family members were already involved.
At age 38, Montaigne decided to isolate himself. He spent his days in a tower on his property, originally built for defense. He moved a bed in there and set up a library and desk. He also covered the walls in quotes, the most important one being “que sais-je.”*
To Montaigne, it wasn’t about reading books, but being surrounded by them. He said, “Books are, I find, the best provisions a man can take with him on his life’s journey.” When Montaigne did read, he focused on history, biographies, and philosophy. As I alluded to earlier, Montaigne marked up and underlined his books. The day he finished a book, he would write the date and the impression it made on him in the back.
This is when he began writing. He wrote two volumes of his Essais, and they became widely popular. He spent these years examining himself and how he should live. He studied virtue, vice, flaws, and history to see how other men had lived before him. He compared his situations to theirs. He believed he was looking for two things: how “I” should live, which is inconsequential but nonetheless very important, and how “man” should live. “True being is the great beginning of virtue.” He believed you can't begin to be virtuous until you discover yourself, and that is what he was looking for. He didn’t believe you should follow what others tell you just because they have an opinion.
Montaigne believed the greatest thing in life is to know thyself. This reminds me of Socrates: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Montaigne didn’t believe that your position in the world, your talent, your family, or your wealth makes you noble, but rather the degree to which you strive to preserve your personality and live your own life. To be clear, this doesn’t mean locking yourself in a tower and not seeing the outside world, but doing what you love. If you love politics, be a politician. If you love baseball, be a baseball player or coach. But choose wisely. “We must conserve the freedom of our soul, and not mortgage it, except on the rare few occasions when we deem it the right path.” You only have a few opportunities to mortgage your freedom. I love his choice of the word mortgage. Mortgage comes from the Latin, meaning “death pact.” To choose to mortgage the freedom of your soul is to make a death pact; you only have a few times to do this. We need to choose wisely. We can't choose every path, so you need to choose the right one for you.
After ten years of this lifestyle, at the age of 48, he decided to travel. He didn’t make any particular plans and didn't decide where he was going next until he was leaving his current location. He also loved experiencing the way locals lived and said that he didn’t turn up his nose at how other people did things, as many people he knew did. After returning, he became Mayor of Bordeaux and served multiple terms before fleeing the plague with his almost 90-year-old mother, wife, and daughter. He then returned after six months and later helped prevent another civil war in France.
*“What do I know?”
Finished: 2/14/2026
Rating: 4/5