Summary
Montaigne explores one of philosophy's most practical insights: we suffer more from our opinions about things than from the things themselves. He argues that pain, poverty, and even death aren't inherently terrible—our minds make them so. Through vivid examples ranging from condemned criminals joking on their way to execution to people enduring extreme physical pain for their beliefs, he shows how dramatically perspective shapes experience. A Spartan boy lets a fox tear out his intestines rather than admit to theft. Women undergo excruciating beauty treatments. Soldiers ignore wounds in battle but cry over a doctor's needle. The same event can be agony or triumph depending on how we frame it. Montaigne isn't promoting toxic positivity or denying real suffering. Instead, he's revealing something liberating: much of our misery comes from the stories we tell ourselves about our circumstances. When he examines his own relationship with money—from carefree borrowing in youth to anxious hoarding in middle age to his current balanced approach—he demonstrates how our attitudes toward the same situation can completely transform our experience of it. This isn't about pretending everything is fine, but recognizing where we have more control than we think. Our minds are powerful enough to make paradise into hell or hell into something bearable. The question isn't whether bad things happen, but whether we'll let our interpretations multiply the suffering.
Coming Up in Chapter 41
Next, Montaigne turns to a different kind of human folly: our obsession with honor and reputation. He'll examine why we're willing to destroy ourselves to protect something as fragile as what other people think of us.
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An excerpt from the original text.(~500 words)
THAT THE RELISH FOR GOOD AND EVIL DEPENDS IN GREAT MEASURE UPON THE OPINION WE HAVE OF THEM Men (says an ancient Greek sentence)--[Manual of Epictetus, c. 10.]-- are tormented with the opinions they have of things and not by the things themselves. It were a great victory obtained for the relief of our miserable human condition, could this proposition be established for certain and true throughout. For if evils have no admission into us but by the judgment we ourselves make of them, it should seem that it is, then, in our own power to despise them or to turn them to good. If things surrender themselves to our mercy, why do we not convert and accommodate them to our advantage? If what we call evil and torment is neither evil nor torment of itself, but only that our fancy gives it that quality, it is in us to change it, and it being in our own choice, if there be no constraint upon us, we must certainly be very strange fools to take arms for that side which is most offensive to us, and to give sickness, want, and contempt a bitter and nauseous taste, if it be in our power to give them a pleasant relish, and if, fortune simply providing the matter, ‘tis for us to give it the form. Now, that what we call evil is not so of itself, or at least to that degree that we make it, and that it depends upon us to give it another taste and complexion (for all comes to one), let us examine how that can be maintained. If the original being of those things we fear had power to lodge itself in us by its own authority, it would then lodge itself alike, and in like manner, in all; for men are all of the same kind, and saving in greater and less proportions, are all provided with the same utensils and instruments to conceive and to judge; but the diversity of opinions we have of those things clearly evidences that they only enter us by composition; one person, peradventure, admits them in their true being, but a thousand others give them a new and contrary being in them. We hold death, poverty, and pain for our principal enemies; now, this death, which some repute the most dreadful of all dreadful things, who does not know that others call it the only secure harbour from the storms and tempests of life, the sovereign good of nature, the sole support of liberty, and the common and prompt remedy of all evils? And as the one expect it with fear and trembling, the others support it with greater ease than life. That one complains of its facility: “Mors! utinam pavidos vitae subducere nolles. Sed virtus to sola daret!” [“O death! wouldst that thou might spare the coward, but that valour alone should pay thee tribute.”--Lucan, iv. 580.] Now, let us leave these boastful courages. Theodorus answered Lysimachus, who...
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Intelligence Amplifier™ Analysis
The Road of Mental Multiplication - How We Turn Pain Into Suffering
We suffer more from our interpretations of events than from the events themselves, turning single pains into compound suffering through the stories we tell ourselves.
Why This Matters
Connect literature to life
This chapter teaches how to recognize when your mind is adding suffering to pain by layering meaning onto raw events.
Practice This Today
This week, notice when something upsets you and ask: 'What actually happened versus what story am I telling myself about what happened?'
Now let's explore the literary elements.
Terms to Know
Stoic philosophy
An ancient Greek school of thought that taught people to focus on what they can control rather than what they can't. Stoics believed our reactions to events matter more than the events themselves.
Modern Usage:
We see this in modern therapy approaches like CBT, which teaches that changing our thoughts can change our feelings.
Fortune
In Montaigne's time, Fortune was seen as a powerful force that controlled external events - luck, fate, circumstances beyond human control. Renaissance thinkers debated how much power Fortune had over human lives.
Modern Usage:
Today we might call this 'circumstances,' 'bad luck,' or 'things outside our control' - the stuff that just happens to us.
Custom and habit
Montaigne explores how repeated practices become second nature, making difficult things bearable or even pleasant. He shows how cultural customs shape what we consider normal or abnormal.
Modern Usage:
This is why some people love spicy food that would torture others, or why night shift workers adapt to sleeping during the day.
Fancy (imagination)
In 16th-century usage, 'fancy' meant imagination or the mind's power to create mental pictures and interpretations. Montaigne argues our fancy often creates more suffering than reality does.
Modern Usage:
This is like when we catastrophize or create worst-case scenarios in our heads that are worse than what actually happens.
Ancient exemplars
Montaigne frequently uses stories from Greek and Roman history to illustrate his points. These examples were meant to show how people in the past handled similar situations.
Modern Usage:
Today we might use celebrity stories, historical figures, or viral social media examples to make the same kind of point.
Judgment
For Montaigne, judgment means the mental process of evaluating and interpreting experiences. He argues that our judgment, not external events, determines our happiness or misery.
Modern Usage:
This is what we call 'perspective' or 'mindset' - how we choose to interpret and respond to what happens to us.
Characters in This Chapter
The Spartan boy
Historical exemplar
A young Spartan who stole a fox, hid it under his cloak, and let it tear out his intestines rather than admit to the theft and face shame. He demonstrates how cultural values can make people endure extreme physical pain.
Modern Equivalent:
The teenager who'd rather suffer in silence than admit they need help because of social pressure
Epictetus
Philosophical authority
The ancient Greek philosopher whose quote opens the chapter about how we're tormented by our opinions of things, not the things themselves. His teaching forms the foundation of Montaigne's argument.
Modern Equivalent:
The therapist or life coach whose wisdom everyone quotes on social media
Condemned criminals
Surprising exemplars
Montaigne describes prisoners who joke and laugh on their way to execution, showing how even facing death can be bearable depending on one's attitude and acceptance.
Modern Equivalent:
People who find ways to laugh and stay positive even when facing terminal illness or other devastating news
Montaigne himself
Self-examining narrator
He uses his own changing relationship with money as an example - from carefree youth to anxious middle age to balanced maturity - showing how the same circumstances can feel completely different based on our attitude.
Modern Equivalent:
The person sharing their personal growth journey on a podcast or blog
Key Quotes & Analysis
"Men are tormented with the opinions they have of things and not by the things themselves."
Context: This opens the entire essay as Montaigne's main thesis
This quote captures the central insight that most of our suffering comes from how we interpret events, not from the events themselves. It suggests we have more control over our happiness than we think.
In Today's Words:
We make ourselves miserable by how we think about stuff, not because the stuff itself is actually that bad.
"If what we call evil and torment is neither evil nor torment of itself, but only that our fancy gives it that quality, it is in us to change it."
Context: He's building his argument that our imagination creates much of our suffering
This reveals Montaigne's belief that we have agency in our own suffering. If our minds create the problem, our minds can also solve it. It's empowering but also challenging.
In Today's Words:
If bad stuff only seems bad because of how we're thinking about it, then we can change how we think about it.
"We must certainly be very strange fools to take arms for that side which is most offensive to us."
Context: He's pointing out the absurdity of choosing to see things in the worst possible light
Montaigne is calling out our tendency toward negativity bias - why would we choose the interpretation that makes us more miserable? It's both humorous and profound.
In Today's Words:
We'd have to be pretty stupid to automatically choose the worst way of looking at everything.
Thematic Threads
Personal Agency
In This Chapter
Montaigne demonstrates that we have more control over our experience than we realize—not over what happens, but over how we interpret what happens
Development
Introduced here as a foundational concept
In Your Life:
You might discover you've been giving away your power to circumstances when you actually control your response to them
Self-Knowledge
In This Chapter
Through examining his changing relationship with money over time, Montaigne shows how understanding our mental patterns leads to better life navigation
Development
Builds on earlier chapters about honest self-examination
In Your Life:
You might recognize how your own attitudes toward the same situations have changed over time, revealing your growth patterns
Social Conditioning
In This Chapter
The examples of cultural differences in pain tolerance reveal how much of our suffering comes from learned responses rather than natural reactions
Development
Expands on themes of how society shapes our expectations
In Your Life:
You might notice how your family or community taught you to interpret certain experiences as automatically negative
Practical Wisdom
In This Chapter
Rather than abstract philosophy, Montaigne offers a concrete tool for reducing unnecessary suffering in daily life
Development
Continues the pattern of turning insights into actionable strategies
In Your Life:
You might start questioning your first emotional reaction to setbacks, looking for the interpretation hiding behind the feeling
You now have the context. Time to form your own thoughts.
Discussion Questions
- 1
Montaigne gives examples of people experiencing the same type of event very differently - condemned criminals joking versus us agonizing over small setbacks. What's the key difference he identifies between the event itself and our experience of it?
analysis • surface - 2
Why does Montaigne use his own relationship with money as an example? What does his shift from carefree borrowing to anxious hoarding to balanced approach reveal about how our minds shape our reality?
analysis • medium - 3
Think about social media, work stress, or family conflicts. Where do you see people (including yourself) suffering more from their interpretation of events than from the events themselves?
application • medium - 4
Montaigne isn't promoting 'just think positive' - he acknowledges real suffering exists. How would you use his insight to handle a genuinely difficult situation without dismissing the real problem or multiplying the pain?
application • deep - 5
If our minds are powerful enough to transform the same situation into either misery or something bearable, what does this reveal about where our real power lies in navigating life's challenges?
reflection • deep
Critical Thinking Exercise
Separate the Event from the Story
Think of something currently causing you stress or anxiety. Write down what actually happened (just the facts, like a news report). Then write down the story you're telling yourself about what it means. Finally, brainstorm three alternative interpretations of the same facts. Notice how different stories create different emotional responses to the identical situation.
Consider:
- •Focus on observable facts versus assumptions about meaning or intentions
- •Pay attention to words like 'always,' 'never,' 'proves,' or 'means' - these often signal interpretation rather than fact
- •Consider how someone with a completely different life experience might interpret the same event
Journaling Prompt
Write about a time when your initial interpretation of an event turned out to be wrong. How did changing your understanding change your emotional experience? What did this teach you about the power of perspective?
Coming Up Next...
Chapter 41: When Sharing Glory Actually Matters
As the story unfolds, you'll explore our obsession with reputation often backfires on us, while uncovering strategic humility can actually increase your influence. These lessons connect the classic to contemporary challenges we all face.