Title Of Liars

Author Michel de Montaigne

Year Published 1580

Kind of Book essay, Philosophy

How strongly I recommend it /10 

My Impressions Short, sweet, and well worth reading

Date Read June 2022

Practical Takeaways

  • Anyone who does not feel sufficiently strong in memory should not meddle with lying.

 

Big Ideas

  • It is good to have a bad memory

Because

  • If someone have an excellent memory they are likely to have weak judgment

 

  • If your memory is good you ability to make your own decisions grows weak

Because

  • You can remember other people's opinions and virtues when you have a good memory

And Therefore

  • You don't have to rely on your own judgment and opinions when you have a good memory

 

  • People mistake a person's bad memory for him/her not caring them

  • Sometimes people forget someone's name or what they asked them to do or told them just because they have a memory (not because they don't care about them)

 

  • Too many details can ruin a good story or make a bad story even worse

 

  • It is good to have a bad memory

Because

  • If you have a bad memory you don't remember the injuries others have done to you

  • SP: and are therefore able to forgive and forget and not be stuck in a state of resentment

 

  • It is good to have a bad memory

Because

  • When your memory is bad you can reread books and rewatch movies as if you're seeing them for the first time

 

  • When a liar makes something up completely, he is likely to forget it unless he has a very strong memory

Because

  • The truth of what really happened usually muddles the liar's fabrication in his mind

 

  • Lying is a terrible vice

  • A man cannot be trusted/worked with if he can't keep his word

  • If we recognized how bad lying really is, we would punish liars more harshly than people who committed other crimes

 

  • Lying begins in childhood

And

  • Once a person has started lying it is very hard to stop the habit of lying

 

  • There is only one truth

But

  • There are infinite numbers of falsehoods

Therefore

  • When someone tells a lie we can't just assume the truth is the opposite of what they said

  • The "Good" is certain and finite -Pythagoras

  • Evil is infinite and uncertain-Pythagoras

  • Only one path goes to the target

  • A thousand paths miss the target

  • Silence is more sociable than false speech

 

Surprising Facts

  • In France in the 1500 people would say "A man has no memory" to mean he has no sense

 

Unknown Terms

Lying: "…telling a like means saying something false but which we have taken for true…lying—as defined in Latin…implies going against our conscience, and thus applies only to those who say what is contrary to what they know…" pg.23