Nothing of importance would be retained and no abilities would be learned. He believed that learning through experience was superior to learning through the use of books.

“That the intention is judge of our actions.” .

• Judgement is more important than knowledge. Montaigne criticises any form of education which does not encourage us to think for ourselves.
• True independence involves listening to others.
• A healthy body leads to wiser judgements.
• Conclusion.

Whenever we do something wrong we rationalize how we didn’t mean for that outcome or that we really did it for a good reason. When other people do something wrong we never give them that same slack. They simply are wrong.

This statement, made by author Stephen Covey, exposes a hypocrisy most of us struggle with. Intentions are important because why we do something reveals motive. Behavior is important because what we do impacts ourselves and others.

To this day, the suppliers of popular novels are incapable of anything better, which is good enough for ordinary consumption. Meanwhile, in the essay “Of the Inconsistency of Our Actions,” Montaigne points out the elements that make the difference between a type and a character.

This outlook in no way prevents having rooted convictions. To name only one, Montaigne is sure that people ought not to be burnt alive for their beliefs. Montaigne lived in an age full of people who knew that they, and they alone, had the truth, direct from God—and these truth-bearers all disagreed.

Montaigne, then, is not “a skeptic” in the sense of a shoulder-shrugging philosopher who looks at the world with tolerant amusement; he is ‘skeptical’ in the sense of the reader who does not believe without evidence and the scholar who does not take any particular truth as final. This outlook in no way prevents having rooted convictions.