WIST Quotations https://wist.info Wish I'd Said That! Thu, 28 May 2026 19:05:42 +0000 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://wist.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/little-w-little-box-60x60.jpg debasing – WIST Quotations https://wist.info 32 32 43606282 Montaigne, Michel de -- Essays, Book 2, ch. 18 (2.18), “Of Giving the Lie [Du Démentir]” (1578–79) [tr. Screech (1987)] https://wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/82003/ https://wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/82003/#respond Thu, 12 Feb 2026 05:00:22 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=82003 The first sign of corrupt morals is the banishing of truth.

[Le premier traict de la corruption des mœurs, c’est le bannissement de la verité]


Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 2, ch. 18 (2.18), “Of Giving the Lie [Du Démentir]” (1578–79) [tr. Screech (1987)]
    (Source)

This essay (and this passage) appeared in the 1st (1580) edition, and was expanded in each succeeding edition.

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

The first part of customs-corruption, is the banishment of truth.
[tr. Florio (1603)]

The first step to the corruption of manners is banishing of truth.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]

The first thing done in the corruption of manners is banishing truth.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]

The first feature of corruption of morals is the banishment of truth.
[tr. Ives (1925)]

The first feature in the corruption of morals is the banishment of truth.
[tr. Zeitlin (1934)]

The first stage in the corruption of morals is the banishment of truth.
[tr. Frame (1943)]

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