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About this quote

What does it mean?
A rhetorical question expressing deep skepticism about the extent of human knowledge.
In plain terms
I do not know anything for sure.
What can you take from it?
Acknowledge your limits when seeking truth.

Where it applies

  • debating
  • studying
  • personal reflection

Putting it to work

  • philosophy
  • critical thinking
  • debate

Questions to consider

  • What can you actually know for sure?
  • How certain should you be?

Another view

It is very short and may seem dismissive without context.

More from Michel de Montaigne

  1. Je veux qu'on me voit en ma facon simple, naturelle, et ordinaire, sans etude et artifice; car c'est moi que je peins...Je suis moi-meme la matiere de mon livr…

    Permalink to quote #2
  2. Certes, c'est un subject merveilleusement vain, divers, et ondoyant, que l'homme. Il est malaise d'y fonder jugement constant et uniforme.

    Permalink to quote #3
  3. As for extraordinary things, all the provision in the world would not suffice.

    Permalink to quote #4

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  3. An aphorism can never be the whole truth; it is either a half-truth or a truth-and-a-half.

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