Every man calls barbarous anything he is not accustomed to.
[Chacun appelle barbarie, ce qui n’est pas de son usage.]
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:Men call that barbarisme which is not common to them.
[tr. Florio (1603)]Every one gives the title of barbarism to everything that is not in use in his own country.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]Everyone gives the denomination of barbarism to what is not the custom of his country.
[tr. Friswell (1868)]Every one gives the title of barbarism to everything that is not in use in his own country.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]Every one calls "barbarism" whatever he is not accustomed to.
[tr. Ives (1925), 1.31]Each man calls barbarism whatever is not his own practice.
[tr. Frame (1943)]Everyone calls barbarism what is not customary to him.
[ed. Rat (1958), 1.31]Everyone calls what he is not accustomed to barbarity.
[tr. Atkinson/Sices (2012)]
Quotations about:
unfamiliarity
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
Nothing is more terrible than ignorance in action.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German poet, statesman, scientist
Sprüche in Prosa: Maximen und Reflexionen [Proverbs in Prose: Maxims and Reflections] (1833) [tr. Saunders (1893)]
(Source)
Goethe's use of this phrase comes up twice in the Maxims and Reflections. Other translations:
From Art and Antiquity, Vol. 5, #3, Individual Points (1826):Es ist nichts schrecklicher als eine tätige Unwissenheit.
(Source (German))Nothing is more terrible than ignorance in action.
[tr. Saunders (1893), "Life and Character," sec. 3, #231]There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.
[tr. Rönnfeldt (1900)]There is nothing more dreadful than active ignorance.
[tr. Stopp (1995), #367]
From Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years (1829):Auch nichts schrecklicher ist, als die Unwissenheit handeln zu sehen.
(Source(German))There is no more terrible sight than ignorance in action.
[tr. Saunders (1893), "Life and Character," sec. 1, #52]There is nothing more terrible than to see ignorance in action.
[tr. Rönnfeldt (1900)]Nothing is more frightful than to see ignorance in action.
[tr. Stopp (1995), #367]
