We are not without virtuous men, but ‘tis according to our notions of virtue.
The surrounding passage

would have laughed at it, so little does the Spartan innocence resemble that of France. We are not without virtuous men, but ‘tis according to our notions of virtue. Whoever has his manners established in regularity above the standard of the age he lives in, let him either wrest or blunt his rules, or, which I would rather advise him to, let him retire, and not meddle with us at all. What will he get by it?

The work and its creator

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Creator: Michel de Montaigne
Nationality / cultural background: French
Work / edition: 1685–1686 translation

Translation: Charles Cotton · English

Historical public-domain text. Selected passage; line-end whitespace normalised. No generated quotation.

In the source: CHAPTER I; paragraph 4633 in the selected body section

Selected for the Brief on 22 Sep 2026. This date records our selection, rather than when the work was created.