“What a monstrous thing to see a man who enjoys life and cares nothing for it.”Michel de Montaigne · Eseuri · 1580 · I, 20
Enjoying life while refusing to value it is a contradiction we live daily.
Montaigne notices a contradiction in human behavior: we relish our days, yet squander them as if they were endless. The mechanism is practical hypocrisy — acting against what we claim to value. Someone who spends hours scrolling and then complains about having no time for family lives exactly this monstrosity.
Montaigne goes further: the problem is not that we die, but that we pretend we don't. We act as if life were given to us on credit, interest-free. He calls this a monstrosity, because it is a shame we impose on ourselves: we know the price of our days and still give them away for free. A person who laments having no time, yet spends three hours each evening scrolling, does not lack time — he lacks decision. A day is not a resource that replenishes; it is spent exactly once. The question then becomes: since every day gets spent anyway, to whom do you give yours?
Why it matters Seen against the certainty of death, each day gains weight. The thought helps you choose more deliberately where your time and attention go.