A man’s worth and reputation lie in the mind and in the will: his true honour is found there. Bravery does not consist in firm arms and legs but in firm minds and souls: it is not a matter of what our horse or our weapons are worth but of what we are.
[L’estimation & le prix d’un homme consiste au cœur & en la volonté: c’est là ou gist son vray honneur: la vaillance c’est la fermeté, non pas des jambes & des bras, mais du courage & de l’ame: elle ne consiste pas en la valeur de nostre cheval, ny de nos armes, mais en la nostre.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 30 (1.30), “Of Cannibals [Des Cannibales]” (1578) [tr. Screech (1987), 1.31]
(Source)
Some translators use the 1588 sequence of chapters, not the 1595, and so identify this as ch. 31.
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:The reputation and worth of a man consisteth in his heart and will: therein consists true honour: Constancie is valour, not of armes and legs, but of minde and courage: it consisteth not in the spirit and courage of our horse, nor of our armes, but in ours.
[tr. Florio (1603)]The estimate and value of a man consist in the heart and in the will: there his true honour lies. Valour is stability, not of legs and arms, but of the courage and the soul; it does not lie in the goodness of our horse or our arms but in our own.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]The estimation and value of a man consist in the heart and the will; and therein lies his true honour. Valour is the stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the mind; it does not consist in the goodness of our horse, or our armour, but in ourselves.
[tr. Friswell (1868)]The estimate and value of a man consist in the heart and in the will: there his true honor lies. Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of the courage and the soul; it does not lie in the goodness of our horse or our arms: but in our own.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]A man's estimation and value depend on his heart and his will; that is where his true honour lives; valour is strength, not of arms and legs, but of the mind and the soul; it does not depend upon the worth of our horse or of our armour, but upon our own.
[tr. Ives (1925), 1.31]The worth and value of a man is in his heart and his will; there lies his real honor. Valor is the strength, not of legs and arms, but of heart and soul; it consists not in the worth of our horse or our weapons, but in our own.
[tr. Frame (1943), 1.31]A man’s value and reputation depend on his heart and his resolution; there his true honour lies. Valour is strength, not of leg or arm, but of the heart and soul; it lies not in the goodness of our horse or our weapons, but in our own.
[tr. Cohen (1958), 1.31]A man's value and worth are to be found in his heart and will: that is where his true honor lies. Valor is strength not of legs and arms but of heart and mind; it is not a matter of our horse's or our weapons' value, but of our own.
[tr. Atkinson/Sices (2012)]
