Born at the Chateau de Montaigne, near Bordeaux. He studied law and served as counselor at the Bordeaux Parliament.

He retired in 1571 to work on his Essays, which are considered the best ever written and are a model for the form. Montaigne would be recognized as embodying the spirit of freely entertaining doubt which began to emerge at that time. He is most famously known for his skeptical remark, 'Que sais-je?' ('What do I know?').

Montaigne's attempt to examine the world through the lens of the only thing he can depend on implicitly - his own judgment - makes him more accessible to modern readers than any other author of the Renaissance.

Quotations :
"If you belittle yourself, you are believed; if you praise yourself, you are disbelieved"

"Nothing is so firmly believed as that which least is known."

"Man cannot make a worm, yet he will make gods by the dozen."

"The only thing certain is nothing is certain."

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