"Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete" by Michel de Montaigne is a collection of essays written between approximately 1570 and 1592. Montaigne set out to record his own character and humors with complete frankness, creating a new literary form he called "attempts" or "tests." The essays range from profound topics like conscience and sadness to trivial subjects like smells, examining human nature through skeptical inquiry. Writing during France's religious wars, Montaigne questioned certainty itself, asking "What do I know?" while freely associating ideas and drawing on classical sources.