How We Weep and Laugh at the Same Thing

by Michel de Montaigne

'No one characteristic clasps us purely and universally in its embrace.'

A selection of charming essays from a master of the genre exploring the contradictions inherent to human thought, words and actions.

Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592).

Montaigne's works available in Penguin Classics are The Complete Essays, An Apology for Raymond Sebond, On Friendship, On Solitude and The Essays: A Selection

Genres: Classics, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Essays, France, Short Stories, French Literature

Paperback

First published January 1, 1592

About the author

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1532-1592) was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance. Montaigne is known for popularizing the essay as a literary genre. He became famous for his effortless ability to merge serious intellectual speculation with casual anecdotes and autobiography—and his massive volume Essais (translated literally as "Attempts") contains, to this day, some of the most widely influential essays ever written. Montaigne had a direct influence on writers the world over, from William Shakespeare to René Descartes, from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Stephan Zweig, from Friedrich Nietzsche to Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He was a conservative and earnest Catholic but, as a result of his anti-dogmatic cast of mind, he is considered the father, alongside his contemporary and intimate friend Étienne de La Boétie, of the "anti-conformist" tradition in French literature.

In his own time, Montaigne was admired more as a statesman then as an author. The tendency in his essays to digress into anecdotes and personal ruminations was seen as detrimental to proper style rather than as an innovation, and his declaration that, "I am myself the matter of my book", was viewed by his contemporaries as self-indulgent. In time, however, Montaigne would be recognized as embodying, perhaps better than any other author of his time, 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?").

Remarkably modern even to readers today, 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. Much of modern literary nonfiction has found inspiration in Montaigne, and writers of all kinds continue to read him for his masterful balance of intellectual knowledge and personal storytelling.

Reviews

[Mia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very short essay about a very familiar subject (familiar to anyone with Feelings, that is). Montaigne doesn’t try to make sense of the human psyche in all its contradictions, he just maintains that every feeling is valid in the moment it is felt, that it isn’t negated by conflicting feelings or ones that follow it in short succession. It’s a comforting thought.

_________________________

PRE-REVIEW:

Little Black Classics are a very dangerous thing to a bookworm like me. I simply cannot stop buying them. I would compare them to M&Ms, or those little knickknacks they put at the checkout counter at the store, knowing you'll say, "Oh, that's cute" and put them into your basket. But these have more substance than that.



For those who don't know, the Little Black Classics Collection is a collection of 80 books released by Penguin to celebrate their 80th anniversary in 2015. They're super short and tiny and adorable, and they're all 80p! (That's $1.15 for my American brethren- I'm in England now and so I'm thinking in pounds and pence.) Now I'm going to be a total enabler and link to the list of them all here.

A better analogy, perhaps, is that the LBC collection is like a great new show you discover on Netflix (or Hulu, or- if you're like me- a shady, virus-filled pirating website). There are good episodes and bad ones, but overall it has that sort of compulsive, one-after-the-other mentality that can't really do any harm if you do it in moderation. And if you play your cards right, you might just learn a thing or two, and come out a little more cultured than you went in.

So, that little ramble is just my way of saying: I am very excited, and I can't wait to dig into these puppies.

[Sean Barrs · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn’t like this one. It felt like the author was just pointing out the obvious in many of his essays. He points out the ground breaking idea that humans experience conflicting emotions: we cry when we’re happy and we laugh in moments of distress. By the way he writes you’d think he was the first person to realise this. He then gives us a few historical examples of unexpected emotional reactions. For example, Julius Cesar reacts in disgust when presented with the head of Pompeii Magnus. That’s not really surprising, and it felt like a weak argument. It’s not that hard to accept that someone can have respect for a former friend turned enemy. It felt like a random point to make and irrelevant to the essay.

Perhaps, at the time of when it was written this may have been quite an intriguing read, but by today’s standards these things are clearly apparent and outdated. The rest of the essays discuss philosophy and the (then) current thought. I took very little away from this. Essays like this should be universal and appeal directly to the reader; they should draw them in and envelop them with their ideas. This failed to do so. It is easily forgettable and nothing remarkable. It’s not one of the highlights of the collection.

If you’re looking for something directly appealing to the reader and that, quite literally, speaks through the ages of history then I recommend trying: A Cup of Sake Beneath the Cherry trees (my review)


Penguin Little Black Classic- 29



The Little Black Classic Collection by penguin looks like it contains lots of hidden gems. I couldn’t help it; they looked so good that I went and bought them all. I shall post a short review after reading each one. No doubt it will take me several months to get through all of them! Hopefully I will find some classic authors, from across the ages, that I may not have come across had I not bought this collection.

[Darwin8u · Rating 4 out of 5]

"So wonderous is the power of conscience! It makes us betray, accuse, and fight against ourselves."
Michel de Montaigne , On Conscience, from Essays



Vol 29 of my Penguin Little Black Classics Box Set contains several of Montaigne's famous Essays. Included in this Little Black Classic are, with star ratings:

1. How We Weep and Laugh at the Same Thing - ★★★★★
2. On Conscience - ★★★★★
3. Fortune is often found in Reason's train - ★★★
4. On punishing cowardice - ★★★★
5. On the vanity of words - ★★★★
6. To Philosophize is to learn how to die - ★★★★★

Montaigne is one of my favorites. I can't remeber who said it, but I remeber reading years ago that Montaigne was essentially the worlds first blogger. He wrote wonderful essays on numerous topics. And he might start one essay off discussing Conscience and end it discussing the effacacy of torture. He was a thinker. He was a writer. He was a gentleman who collected fantastic quotes from Greeks, Romans, etc., and made one of my favorite books from all of it. Seriously. His full Essays is a desert island pick for sure. Perhaps right after (and some days right before) the King James Bible. His investigations into what it means to be alive, to be human, rank right up there with Augustine, Plato, and Shakespeare.

For more thoughts on Montaigne, go here.

[aayushi · Rating 4 out of 5]

when I think of the ancient philosophers, I imagine them to be on a higher altitude, like people view god as someone they can never be, just someone they can only aspire to follow. amongst such philosophers is one whose ideas i have come to respect, but his disposition is something i try to emulate. his ideas, not only relentlessly wise, but also successfully make me understand the needless pedestals I've been putting underneath so many authors, philosophers and even my friends and family. Montaigne kept demonstrating the simplicity of his life to end our discouragement towards the pretensions of intimidating intellectual supremacy that we thought were required to succeed.

in this short collection of his essays - though i only found two much more worthy of being remembered - 'how we weep and laugh at the same thing' and 'to philosophize is to learn how to die', i fell in love with his writing style, which was engaging throughout. maybe i could sense the approachability in his words that made me more connected than i anticipated to be.

thank you, Montaigne, for being a breath of fresh air in this world of philosophy; amidst all the pendatries and precision that sometimes keep me at bay.

[Peter · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book should be retitled How We Cry an Scream at this Damn Thing.
Turgid, states the obvious and is all round boring. Is it really this easy, even back then, to spout such rubbish.

AVOID, THERE IS BEYOND DOUBT HIGHER QUALITY PHILOSOPHY THAN THIS PITIFUL TOME.

How We Blow Our Nose on this Bad Thing.

Please leave optional titles below.
Thanks awfully Chaps and Chapesses. Toodlepip!

[[ J o ] · Rating 2 out of 5]

Michel de Montaigne was a 16th Century French Renaissance philosopher and was the one of foremost essayists and contributed to making essays a popular literary genre.

How We Weep and Laugh at the Same Thing contains 6 short essays concerning philosophical contradictions, the most prevalent being that words are useless and actions are the only worthy thing, despite Montaigne being an essayist himself.

There have been a couple of Little Black Classics like this one, but somehow this one seems slow witted and less profound than any other. It was not written particularly well and I found myself having to re-read sentences several times in order to take in what Montaigne was saying. It did not flow quite so well, nor did the language or writing style fascinate me.

There were one or two notable ideas, but otherwise Montaigne has nothing particular to say that hadn't already been said, and better, by someone else.


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[Marjolein (UrlPhantomhive) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

Michel de Montaigne was apparently one the most important French Renaissance philosophers, but I had never heard of the good man before picking up this Little Black Classic which bundles six of his essays.

I was pleasantly surprised. His ideas were not particularly shocking (at least not today) but the meandering way in which it was written made for a nice read. However, while I liked this, I'm not really inclined into reading more of his essays.

Little Black Classics ~ 29

[Michelle Curie · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the greatest beauty of literature lies in the fact that it can take us through space and time. And what surprises we can find in centuries otherwise long lost! Turns out humans were preoccupied with much the same things in the 16th century.



How We Weep and Laugh at the Same Thing is a collection of thoughts straight from the head of Michel de Montaigne, the notorious French philosopher who lived during the Renaissance, whom I've heard of, but with whose output I had not been familiarised with.

I enjoyed his approach to the human condition, stressing that our feelings are all valid, but that we probably just lean back and enjoy the ride. I was surprised with how relatable and contemporary his writing felt. This volume contains a collection of short essays on different topics, such as conscience, fortune, cowardice and the power of words.

The longest one, titled To philosophise is to learn how to die focus around how we cope with death and how the knowledge of dying impacts our time alive. It orbits around the interesting, albeit incredibly fatalistic thought Cicero had, that to philosophise places our souls outside of our physical selves, which is precisely the state we find ourselves in upon death. The conclusion he comes to is that while it's fascinating that we're as afraid of dying as we are, we can use that power to actually enjoy our lives more, which works very much in the line of the whole carpe diem sort of thinking.

This was a short and pleasant little excursion into what worried people in the Renaissance! I enjoyed de Montaigne's writing style and while it did not necessarily hook me enough to awake an urge to read more of his works straight away, this did provide a good time.

In 2015 Penguin introduced the Little Black Classics series to celebrate Penguin's 80th birthday. Including little stories from "around the world and across many centuries" as the publisher describes, I have been intrigued to read those for a long time, before finally having started. I hope to sooner or later read and review all of them!

[Vienna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked all of them and they were very moving, except the third one. I think it was because of my lack of English to fully understand this essay. I've never heard of Michel de Montaigne before and because of this Little Black Classic I want to read more of his essays, but then maybe in Dutch. I always have loved philosphy books and this one did not disappoint me at all. I also really liked how the topics were so various and this is actually a Little Black Classic that didn't disappoint me, because this is what I had in mind with this collection.

[muthuvel · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. How We Weep and Laugh at the Same Thing - ★★★★★
2. On Conscience - ★★★★
3. Fortune is often found in Reason's train - ★★★
4. On Punishing Cowardice - ★★★
5. On the Vanity of Words - ★★★
6. To Philosophize is to Learn How to Die - ★★★★★


The last essay in this short anthology holds a special place in my soul. I read in front of the Buddhist temple at the Theosophical society among the wilderness and the sounds of the nearby flowing river of Adyar. I'll be lingering about it until my eternity's gate.

I'll be lingering about it until my eternity's gate.

[Saurabh Kadam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bunch of essays from Montaigne. I like each one of them personally. If you are starting this then you should know a little bit about history. I like the one titled To philosophize is to learn how to die
“I want us to be doing things, prolonging life's duties as much as we can. I want death to find me planting my cabbages, neither worrying about it nor the unfinished gardening.”
It just was on another level.

Life itself is neither a good nor an evil: life is where good or evil find a place, depending on how you make it for them -Michel de Montaigne

[philosophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Montaigne, one of the most significant and opinionated philosophers of the French Rennaisance, raises questions and shares his perspective on a plethora of subjects, such as the punishment of cowardice, and the experience of conflicting emotions. During the breakdown of his thoughts he uses Latin, French and Greek quotes as well as historical examples, to demonstrate the truth of what he supports.

[Julian Worker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michel de Montaigne lived in 16th Century Aquitaine and this book contains a few of his essays: 'How we Weep and Laugh at the same thing', 'On Conscience', 'Fortune is often found on Fortune's train', 'On Punishing Cowardice', 'On the Vanity of Words', and 'To Philosophise is to Learn How to Die'.

Despite his mastery of words and essays, Montaigne actually despised words and admired Sparta for their emphasis on actions rather than words. In the essay 'On the Vanity of Words' he turns his ire on rhetoric, saying it was mostly used to stir up feelings in crowds in states such as Athens, Rome, and Rhodes were there was a lot of internal conflict.

Montaigne was pre-occupied with death or rather the painful experience of dying. In 'To Philosophise is to Learn How to Die', Montaigne says that no one dies before their time and that the time you leave behind you is no more yours than the time which passed before you were born.

[Kin · Rating 4 out of 5]

ดีอยู่ เราชอบบทแรกกับบทสุดท้ายมากๆ บทสุดท้ายอาจไม่ค่อยว้าวในแง่คอนเซปต์เกี่ยวกับความตาย เพราะเราอ่านและคิดเกี่ยวกับเรื่องนี้บ่อย แต่ต้องยอมรับว่าเขียนเปรียบเปรยได้ดีจริงๆ บทแรกก็ละเมียดละไมมาก เราดีใจและเสียใจให้กับเรื่องเดียวกันได้อย่างไร ทำไมคนเราถึงเสียใจยามศัตรูที่เราเคารพต้องตายจากไป ประโยคสุดท้ายสรุปทุกอย่างไว้ได้ลงตัวมากๆ เลย

[Tassos · Rating 3 out of 5]

I once read that Montaigne wrote as if to write for himself, not necessarily to be read by others. After reading this book, I can understand why. Even though his simple style might seem too basic for philosophy essays, this simplicity is eventually appreciated.

Very simple book, about 4-5 basic philosophies of Montaigne, extracted mainly from his experiences and observations.

[Nica · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I want Death to find me planting my cabbages"
I felt that.

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating read. Thanks, Lizzy <3 Honestly, I think I'd rate these highly simply because I feel so sophisticated reading philosophy over breakfast. Lol.

[Nutska · Rating 3 out of 5]

"When I die, may I be in the midst of my work."

Like most philosophical works, this 55-page collection of essays is much longer than it needs to be and worded like the author trying desperately to reach a word count...HOWEVER, I would say this is well-worth the read!

No, de Montaigne doesn't make any groundbreaking points about emotionality, speech, life and death, nothing that the average person can't deduce from just simply *living* and *feeling*, though that isn't to say that his work is redundant. I think there's a certain special value in being able to put into words what is, seemingly, apparent but feels a little ineffable. A reminder of what you already know is deeply important, at least in my eyes.

While it is easy to poke holes in de Montaigne's essays (he brings in anecdotal examples of people who lived in Ancient Greece the Roman Empire, etc, to prove his points, but this makes it so that it's incredibly easy to bring in similar anecdotal evidence to refute his points so uhhhhh...that's an interesting aspect of reading this book), it is still worth the short read, especially for that last essay!

[saizine · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Death is one of the attributes you were created with; death is part of you; you are running away from yourself; this being which you enjoy is equally divided between death and life. (...) Our first hour gave us life and began to devour it."

A really lovely taster of Michel de Montaigne's essays - I believe those included in the Little Black Classics edition are the same ones that appear as the opening pieces in Penguin's The Essays: A Selection, allowing for some differences in translation. I particularly enjoyed "On conscience" and "To philosophize is to learn how to die." Montaigne is a lively and enthusiastic writer, and despite the temporal distance and the exclusive inclusion on historical (classical) metaphors and examples, the reader can still feel the immediacy of Montaigne's observations. Highly reccommended - though you'll probably want to rush out and get your hands on a complete collection of essays.

[Zeineb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This little black book of morbid insight will bring tears to your eyes due to its sad and witty way of writing.
Montaigne had always been the "wet blanket" among the happy-go-lucky Renaissance men...and he wears his pessimism as a badge of honour. Why wouldn't he?! The man is a genius!!

His writings really make one knit one's eyebrows in curious confusion. Montaigne pushes one to think about what one takes for granted.

Perhaps that is why he was always dismissed as the "party-pooper" of the Renaissance..because his "gusto" for knowledge was just "amaro"...only the few can savour it!

[Yara (The Narratologist) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mini Review:

"To philosophize is to learn how to die" is a great essay, but the other selections were mostly average. I feel like my Comparative Literature professors would have given him the following feedback: "Clearly you've done your research, but there are too many quotations and examples. Try to expand on your own ideas." Still, I've been meaning to read de Montaigne's work for years now, and this little book has definitely convinced me to buy a collection of his essays.

[tee · Rating 4 out of 5]

01/80 penguin little black classics
oh to be a collection of essays written in the 1500s, based on facts like “...even as there is said to be a variety of humours assembled in our bodies, the dominant one being that which normally prevails according to our complexion” and still manage to be mostly convincing lol very intriguing words but this is enough montaigne for me.

[Shriya · Rating 3 out of 5]

First and foremost I judged this book by its cover having knowing nothing about Michel de Montaigne.
I found the essays intense, some really nice quotes there although tad confused as to some parts.
Note to self- read the blurb before buying.

[Miguel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Penguin Classics version is a collection of some essays. Some I enjoyed a lot more than the others. “How We Weep and Laugh at the Same Thing” and “On Conscience” I quite enjoyed. As an Astrophysics nerd, I quite enjoyed the metaphor of the Sun in the first essay. I liked how Montaigne argued that it is totally to be expected that we can have mixed emotions about something. That we can commit to something, but feel grief as well as joy. He likened it to how the Sun has been shining for so long, but these aren’t continuous rays, but a stream of discrete photons, which are different in nature in each moment. It’s quite like a person I guess, who is different in each moment, and can have many “photons” at a time.

The other three after are alright.

“To Philosophize is to Learn How to Die” is excellent. I liked the introductory part, because it’s a conclusion I’ve come to as well. People do things ultimately for the pleasure of them. I don’t believe in true altruism. I think people commit to charity or even martyrdom because the pursuit of such a virtue defines the character of the virtue itself. It feels good in some way to do so.

I think this particular essay is in the same general direction of thoughts I’ve been having since Assassin’s Creed said that one of Leonardo da Vinci’s last words to Ezio were, “While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die.” I like how naturally inevitable and part of it all death seems to Montaigne after all his pondering. I think he demystifies it. Makes it feel at home in every moment.

I also liked how he said that bad things often seem heavier in the lead up to them, or after them, than during them. I think back to when I was hospitalized and how inconvenient it seems now. However, back then, I now recall that it was pretty chill.

He also talks about how it’s strange that we worry we won’t complete some project before being cut by death. How we should be content to enjoy the present act of doing them.

Finally, I love his counterpoint to one of my greatest fears. In the movie “Her,” Theodore fears that he has experienced every emotion he is ever going to feel, and now he will stagnate and possibly experience only lesser versions of them. However, Montaigne argues that this repetition is fine. Joy from something does not necessarily depreciate because we feel it again. Perhaps all the loves, laughs, etc. I will encounter in the future will be familiar in a way. But why is that something to fear? Perhaps I can celebrate that.

P.S. It’s easy to see that Montaigne is a huge nerd from his incessant use of historical trivia to make points. I remember using Operation Market Garden in a Ministop at 3 am to define my relationship with a girl at the time. So this is a big mood. Thanks, Montaigne. I feel seen.

[Senis Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book portrays a refined number of philosophical themes, such as: how contradictory people's characters are and how feelings coexist in ourselves, the power our conscience has over how we choose to live our lives, fortune and fate (the beauty of them, which showcases both good and bad karma), how the art of flourishing words took place in the past (the art of persuasion), and finally, the fear of death. The philosophical affirmations are explained through historical happenings (in order for people to completely grasp the deep meaning behind them). Although I just finished this book, it is safe to say I consider it one of those lectures that I'll take with me, wherever I go throughout my life. It is a short read, but it is not an easy one. The language that was used is one hard to seize for the people that don't carry the burden of life and have never pondered the meaning of it. The great variety of subjects that are approached in this book are not only teaching us the philosophy of life, but also historical knowledge that will prove to be useful in the process of our growth as human beings. Now, I will proceed to enlist some of my favourite quotes from the book:
- " The sun, they say, does not shed its light in one continuous flow but ceaselessly darts fresh rays so thickly at us, one after another, that we cannot perceive any gap between them [...] So, too, our soul darts its arrows separately but imperceptibly "
- " So wondrous is the power of conscience! It makes us betray, accuse and fight against ourselves. In default of an outside testimony it leads us to witness against ourselves: Lashing us with invisible whips, our soul torments us "
- " Cicero says that philosophizing is nothing other than getting ready to die. That is because study and contemplation draw our souls somewhat outside ourselves, keeping them occupied away from the body, a state which both resembles death and which forms a kind of apprenticeship for it "
- " I want us to be doing things, prolonging life's duties as much as we can; I want Death to find me planting my cabbages, neither worrying about it nor the unfinished gardening "

[Veerle Ruijgrok · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vooral de laatste essay (To philosophize is to learn how to die) was heel enjoyable.

“Study and contemplation draw our souls somewhat outside ourselves, a state which both resembles death and which forms a kind of apprenticeship for it.”

“Let us deprive death of its strangeness; let us frequent it, let us get used to it; let us have nothing more often in our minds than death.”

“To practice death is to practice freedom.”

“For why should we fear to lose something which, once lost, cannot be regretted?”

“Death is a part of you; you are running away from yourself; this being which you enjoy is equally decided between death and life.”

“Death is less to be feared than nothing - if there be anything less than nothing.”

[Hind · Rating 3 out of 5]

Montaigne uses his essays as a medium to display his knowledge of other languages and show that he’s well-read. He brings up interesting ideas.

[kc&#x1faa9; · Rating 2 out of 5]

i didn’t really get it

[Raluca]

I don't think I've ever read a collection of philosophical essays written by a 16th century French author. Not do I think I will attempt this again. I cannot choose a star rating, since none of the choices are captioned "I struggled to understand any of it and found it to have no impact on my life". An interesting reading experiment, but not for me.

[Smitchy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really didn't like this one...