montaigne famous essays

US elections: here’s what’s at stake for Europe, in three key areas

Waya Quiviger, IE University

Europe is not prepared for the looming Lebanese refugee crisis

Barah Mikaïl, IE University

Why Europe should consider putting boots on the ground in Ukraine

Viktoriia Lapa, Bocconi University

Talking to dead people through AI: the business of ‘digital resurrection’ might not be helpful, ethical… or even legal

Damián Tuset Varela, UOC - Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

Do we need a European DARPA to cope with technological challenges in Europe?

David W. Versailles, PSB Paris School of Business and Valérie Mérindol, PSB Paris School of Business

How does REACH, the EU regulation governing chemical substances, work?

Johanna Berneron, Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l’alimentation, de l’environnement et du travail (Anses)

Why ghosts wear clothes or white sheets instead of appearing in the nude

Shane McCorristine, Newcastle University

Deadly spiders in Europe: How worried should we actually be?

Rick Visser, Universidad de Málaga

Sweden’s libraries caught in a political row about drag story hour

Lisa Magdalena Engström, Lund University; Fredrik Hanell, Linnaeus University, and Hanna Carlsson, Linnaeus University

We study how plants ‘feed’ themselves to find more sustainable ways to feed the planet

Javier Erro Garcés, Universidad de Navarra

A new generation of telescopes will probe the ‘unknown unknowns’ that could transform our knowledge of the universe

Richard Massey, Durham University

The effects of binge drinking on teenagers’ brain development

Samuel Suárez Suárez, Universidad de Burgos and Jose Manuel Pérez García, UNIR - Universidad Internacional de La Rioja

Female Nazi concentration camp guards: the true horror lies in their similarities to ourselves

Angharad Hampshire, York St John University

Scabies outbreak in UK universities – what you need to know

Michael Head, University of Southampton

Fall of Khrushchev: 60 years since the ‘most democratic coup’ in Soviet history, how Comrade Nikita was toppled

Tomas Sniegon, Lund University

Paris’s iconic Centre Pompidou: a cultural superstar facing economic and environmental challenges

Marie Ballarini, Université Paris Dauphine – PSL

Meet the microbes that transform toxic carbon monoxide into valuable biofuel

Maximilienne Toetie Allaart, University of Tübingen

What causes burnout at work, and how can we prevent it?

Carlos Antonio Ferro Soto, Universidade de Vigo; Analía López-Carballeira, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, and M. Angeles Lopez Cabarcos, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

The political, social and psychological toll of family deaths in war

Diego Alburez-Gutierrez, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research and Enrique Acosta, Autonomous University of Barcelona

The Mazan rape trial in France: does literature, with its ‘sleeping beauties’, glorify rape?

Sandrine Aragon, Sorbonne Université

Destruction of Gaza heritage sites aims to erase – and replace – Palestine’s history

Pilar Montero Vilar, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Vive L’impressionnisme! at the Van Gogh Museum: a compelling, eco-conscious celebration of impressionism

Frances Fowle, University of Edinburgh

European Union

The European Union is becoming too obsessed with defence

Richard Youngs, University of Warwick

By failing to support migrant entrepreneurs, Europe is missing out on opportunities for economic growth

Daniela Bolzani, Università di Bologna; Rosana Silveira Reis, ISG International Business School, and Vittoria G. Scalera, University of Amsterdam

The modern world’s relationship to time is broken – and it’s fuelling the rise of the far right

Jesus Casquete, Universidad del País Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea

We polled EU citizens on what they want asylum policy to look like – their answers may surprise you

Natalia Letki, University of Warsaw; Dawid Walentek, Ghent University; Peter Thisted Dinesen, University of Copenhagen, and Ulf Liebe, University of Warwick

The EU’s outsourced migration control is violent, expensive and ineffective

Is your child stressed, restless, hyperactive? They might be suffering from sensory processing issues

Patricia Jovellar Isiegas, Universidad San Jorge

Israel has invaded Lebanon six times in the past 50 years – a timeline of events

Vanessa Newby, Leiden University

Delirium: this common and frightening syndrome looks like dementia, but comes on much faster

Laura Zaurín Paniagua, Universidad San Jorge

Obstetric violence: abuse during childbirth is widespread, but the first step to fighting it is naming it

Patrizia Quattrocchi, Università degli Studi di Udine; Clémence Schantz, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD); Rodante van der Waal, Universiteit Voor Humanistiek; Stella Villarmea, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and Virginie Rozée, Ined (Institut national d'études démographiques)

Palliative and hospice care: why society cannot ignore the needs of terminally ill patients, and their loved ones

Vilma A. Tripodoro, Universidad de Navarra

Sales jobs make people neurotic, but employers can protect workers’ health – just look at the construction industry

Selma Kadic-Maglajlic, Copenhagen Business School

How Covid-19 restrictions really impacted older people’s health across Europe

Jules Dupuy, Université Paris-Est Créteil Val de Marne (UPEC); Éric Defebvre, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and Thomas Barnay, Université Paris-Est Créteil Val de Marne (UPEC)

How to make meetings worthwhile and productive… for everyone involved

Francisco J. Pérez Latre, Universidad de Navarra

Does psilocybin really provide long-term relief from depression, as new study suggests?

Johan Lundberg, Karolinska Institutet and Guusje Haver, Karolinska Institutet

Small populations of Stone Age people drove dwarf hippos and elephants to extinction on Cyprus

Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Flinders University; Christian Reepmeyer, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut - German Archaeological Institute, and Theodora Moutsiou, University of Cyprus

How ice, trees, coral and sediments help us reconstruct 2.6 million years of climate history: an introduction to paleoclimatology

Armand Hernández, Universidade da Coruña and Olga Margalef, Universitat de Barcelona

Eco-anxiety Q&A: how the IPCC’s vice-chair keeps her head cool on a warming planet

Diána Ürge-Vorsatz, Central European University

Glue in the face: how frogs’ sticky secretions defend them from attack

Shabnam Zaman, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

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Childhood diabetes cases have risen sharply over the last 30 years in Europe, but some countries are affected more than others – new study

Marta Carolina Ruiz Grao, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha; Ana Díez-Fernández, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, and Miriam Garrido Miguel, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha

Poor indoor air quality isn’t just making us sick – it’s also polluting our cities

César Martín-Gómez, Universidad de Navarra and Arturo H. Ariño, Universidad de Navarra

What makes an artist great? 5 reasons why the likes of Goya, Frida Kahlo and Da Vinci are still revered today

Pablo Alvarez de Toledo Müller, Universidad Nebrija

The best exercises to boost your brain health after 60

Neva Béraud-Peigné, Université Paris-Saclay; Alexandra Perrot, Université Paris-Saclay, and Pauline Maillot, Université Paris Cité

How to make schools inclusive and safe for everyone, in 8 steps

Pedro Adalid Ruíz, Universidad CEU San Pablo

Most read this week

Eating quickly saves time, but it takes a toll on your health – here’s how

Esther Martínez Miguel, Universidad Nebrija and Silvia Gómez Senent, Universidad Nebrija

5.5 million years ago the Mediterranean dried out, with sobering lessons for humanity today – new research

Daniel García-Castellanos, Instituto de Geociencias de Barcelona (Geo3Bcn – CSIC) and Konstantina Agiadi, Universität Wien

From rhino horn snuff to pangolin livestock feed: we analysed half a century of patents to track the wildlife trade’s evolution

Amy Hinsley, University of Oxford and Susanne Masters, Leiden University

Why every island’s wildlife ends up looking alike

Céline Bellard, Université Paris-Saclay and Clara Marino, Université Paris-Saclay

DNA reveals secrets of cave-dwelling medieval community that survived conquest and epidemics

Anders Götherström, Stockholm University and Ricardo Rodriguez Varela, Stockholm University

The overshoot myth: you can’t keep burning fossil fuels and expect scientists of the future to get us back to 1.5°C

James Dyke, University of Exeter; Robert Watson, University of East Anglia, and Wolfgang Knorr, Lund University

Alexander von Humboldt: the groundbreaking naturalist who bankrupted himself to share his life’s work

Bienvenido León, Universidad de Navarra

Plant disease could spell apocalypse for citrus fruits

Raphael Morillon, Cirad; Barbara Hufnagel, Cirad; Patrick Ollitrault, Cirad, and Virginie Ravigné, Cirad

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The search target option, located below the Search the Essays box, sets which edition to search. Contemporary English is the default option.

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The Essays of Michel de Montaigne Online

HyperEssays is a project to create a modern and accessible online edition of the Essays of Michel de Montaigne .

HyperEssays.net hosts four editions of the Essays :

• A 1598 edition, in middle French , edited by Marie de Gournay. This is a slightly revised version of Gournay’s original edition published in 1595 .
• A complete and searchable edition of John Florio’s 1603 translation of the Essays , in early modern English.
• A 1685 translation by Charles Cotton , also in early modern English. Only some chapters of this edition have been copyedited and posted.
• A complete and searchable modern edition of the Essays based on W. Carew Hazlitt’s 1877 update of Charles Cotton’s translation. I am slowly replacing the Cotton/Hazlitt translation with a contemporary one and adding new notes.

My goals with HyperEssays are to provide context and tools for first-time readers of the Essays and to design a lasting resource for all interested in Montaigne’s work.

To that end, I copyedit, update, and annotate the original text and its translations. I tag them for indexing and searching, and format them them for easy reading on smartphones, desktop computers, and tablets. In addition, I prepare and provide free chapter PDFs for offline reading.

You can help make HyperEssays a reliable online resource by supporting this project. With your contribution, this site can continue to grow and remain free and accessible to all.

What are the Essays about?

The Essays is not a single, cohesive book but a collection of short and long pieces on various subjects such as religion, horses, friendship, sleep, law, or suicide, which Montaigne wrote over more than twenty years . His goals for the book and the circumstances under which he worked on it changed over time .

The first edition, published in 1580, comprised two books. Eight years later, an updated edition included hundreds of revisions and a new, third book. By the time of his death, in 1592, Montaigne had planned many more changes, which were in­cor­po­rat­ed in the first posthumous edition of 1595.

So, while you can read the Essays from beginning to end, starting with Montaigne’s address To the Reader , you can also follow John Cage’s advice and “ begin any­where. ”

Pick from a selection of some of the most well-known chapters:

• To Philosophize Is to Learn to Die ,
• On the Education of Children ,
• On Friendship ,
• On Cannibals ,
• Apology for Raymond Sebond ,
• On Some Verses of Virgil ,
• On Coaches ,
• On Experience .

Or look at the table of contents and let your curiosity guide you.

Who was Michel de Montaigne?

Michel de Montaigne, the author of the Essays, is often described as a sixteenth-century French philosopher. But was Montaigne actually a philosopher? And did he really retire from the world to write in solitude for years, as is commonly believed?

In On Montaigne , I address these questions and provide biographical context to better understand the Essays. The companion timeline provides a chronological overview of his life.

If you want to learn more about him, I recommend these four biographies of Montaigne (along with two modern translations of the Essays ). Each one is engaging but written with a different audience in mind.

Recent updates

Copy editing, translating, writing notes, updating metadata … the work never ends. This is HyperEssays’s work log, a list of the chapters I’ve been working on:

• Nov 2, 2024 · Des noms
• Nov 2, 2024 · De la bataille de Dreux
• Nov 2, 2024 · Consideration sur Ciceron
• Oct 27, 2024 · De la Solitude
• Oct 27, 2024 · Comme nous pleurons et rions d’une meme chose
• Oct 27, 2024 · Du jeune Caton
• Oct 27, 2024 · De l’usage de se vestir
• Oct 20, 2024 · D’un defaut de nos polices
• Oct 20, 2024 · La fortune se rencontre souvent au train de la raison
• Oct 20, 2024 · De fuir les voluptez au priz de la vie
• Oct 13, 2024 · On Sorrow
• Oct 12, 2024 · De la coustume, et de ne changer aisement une loy receüe

Work on HyperEssays started on January 17, 2020 and likely won’t be completed for many years.