The Essays (French: Essais, pronounced [esɛ]) of Michel de Montaigne are contained in three books and 107 chapters of varying length.

[2] Montaigne wrote in a seemingly conversational or informal style that combines a highly literate vocabulary with popular sayings and local slang.

His thoughts are often supported with quotations from Ancient Greek, Latin, and Italian texts such as De rerum natura by Lucretius[3] and the works of Plutarch.

Rather, his essays examine an enormous range of topics to reflect on the diversity of received opinions, the fallibility of human knowledge and the folly of certitude.

His philosophical skepticism is best expressed in the long essay "An Apology for Raymond Sebond" (Book 2, Chapter 12) in which he embraced the philosophy of Pyrrhonism.

[11] This edition gives modern editors a text dramatically indicative of Montaigne's final intentions (as opposed to the multitude of Renaissance works for which no autograph exists).

The remarkable modernity of thought apparent in Montaigne's essays, coupled with their sustained popularity, made them arguably the most prominent work in French philosophy until the Enlightenment.

The official portrait of former French president François Mitterrand pictured him facing the camera, holding an open copy of the Essays in his hands.

[12] English journalist and politician J. M. Robertson argued that Montaigne's essays had a profound influence on the plays of William Shakespeare, citing their similarities in language, themes and structures.