The "Essays" by Montaigne are a book of a very unique kind. Since their publication in 1580, they have continued to engage generations of readers, provoking both contradiction and enthusiasm. Montaigne appears, even in his admitted vanities, as completely human and above all honest: he seems to hide nothing, does not wish to present himself as learned, nor as a philosopher, nor as a significant politician. He aims to present his own unpretentious portrait, and - this is precisely what is new about this endeavor - he does so not in the form of memoirs or a remembered biography, but through engagement with countless seemingly randomly selected subjects.