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Montaigne: How to Live (And Why It’s The Hardest Skill to Acquire)
Stacking wisdom for life is an experiential process
Throughout our lives, we strive to acquire knowledge in various fields — from the sciences to the arts, from history to mathematics. However, amidst the vast ocean of information we acquire, one crucial aspect often goes overlooked — the art of living itself.
The French philosopher Montaigne observed that learning how to live, in all its complexity and subtlety, is perhaps the most challenging knowledge to acquire.
“There is nothing so beautiful as to play the man well and properly, no knowledge so hard to acquire as the knowledge of how to live this life well and naturally; and the most barbarous of our maladies is to despise our being,” he said.
In this quote, Montaigne suggests that understanding how to lead a good and authentic life is a particularly challenging form of knowledge.
To fully grasp the meaning of Montaigne’s statement, it’s essential to consider the context in which he wrote it. Montaigne was deeply interested in exploring the complexities of human existence and the limitations of human knowledge. He believed people often face great difficulty in understanding and mastering their own lives.
