[A Sip of a Book] The Record of the One Who Gave Birth to the 'Essay'

Some sentences encapsulate the entire content of the book itself, while others instantly reach the reader's heart, creating a point of connection with the book. We present such meaningful sentences excerpted from the book. - Editor's note

Michel de Montaigne, the greatest Renaissance intellectual, thinker, and philosopher of 16th-century France, retired from all public offices at the age of thirty-eight and secluded himself in the library of Ch?teau de Montaigne, where he wrote his life's work until his death. After resigning from his judicial post in 1571 and retiring to Ch?teau de Montaigne, Montaigne wrote 107 essays, both short and long, over about twenty years until his death in 1592. In the seventh year after he began writing, he compiled his writings and published the first edition under the title "Les Essais (The Essays)." The noun "essai," coined by Montaigne from the verb "essayer," meaning "to try," "to experience," or "to attempt for the first time," gave birth to the essay as a special form of writing, which is now widely used in English as "essay." This edition is the fruit of ten years of translation and five years of review by French literature scholars Shim Minhwa and Choi Gwonhaeng, completed after fifteen years.

"I do not want these ornaments to cover or conceal me. That is contrary to my intention; I only want to show what is mine and what originally belongs to me. And if I had enough confidence, I would leave everything to chance and speak only in my own voice." (Essays 3, Chapter 12)

"I am quite comfortable stealing from numerous quotations, disguising and transforming them. Even at the risk of being criticized for not understanding their original meaning, I give them a special direction with my own hand so that they do not become completely irrelevant writings of others." (Essays 3, Chapter 12)

"I envy souls who are comfortable wherever their fate takes them, who can talk with their neighbors about building their house, hunting, or lawsuits, and who can carry on pleasant conversations with carpenters or gardeners. I envy those who treat even the humblest of their servants with friendliness and can converse with their household staff." (Essays 3, Chapter 3)

"We are all made up of fragments, and the structure is so complex and unpredictable that each fragment acts on its own at every moment. The difference between us and ourselves is as great as the difference between us and others." (Essays 2, Chapter 1)

"When judging another person's life, I always consider how it ended. And one of my main concerns about my own life is that the ending be well accomplished?that is, to meet death calmly and serenely." (Essays 1, Chapter 19)

Written by Michel de Montaigne | Translated by Shim Minhwa and Choi Gwonhaeng | Minumsa | 1988 pages | 65,000 KRW

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.