Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Montaigne suggests the world is empty and illusory, lacking true substance or meaning.
In plain terms
Life feels empty and like a brief illusion.
What can you take from it?
Do not place too much value on worldly things.

Where it applies

  • meditation
  • philosophy study
  • coping with loss

Putting it to work

  • reflect on mortality
  • simplify life

Questions to consider

  • What gives your life meaning?
  • How do you define reality?

Another view

This view may ignore the tangible value of human connection.

More from Michel de Montaigne

  1. The way of the world is to make laws, but follow custom.

    Permalink to quote #123
  2. The world is but a perpetual see-saw.

    Permalink to quote #125
  3. The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them... Whether you find satisfaction in life depends not on your tale of years, bu…

    Permalink to quote #122

Related quotes

  1. 'We are here to see and contemplate the great spectacle.' (p.10)

    John BurroughsJohn Burroughs quote #8
  2. I think of life as an inn where I have to stay until the abyss coach arrives. I don't know where it will take me, for I know nothing.

    Fernando PessoaFernando Pessoa quote #20
  3. The role of art is to make a world which can be inhabited.

    William SaroyanWilliam Saroyan quote #25