That the Intention is Judge of our Actions
The moral weight of an action lies in the intention behind it, not the outcome; a man may die in surrender and yet have been braver than one who lived by a courageous act.
Ethics
Of Bad Means Employed to a Good End
The end does not justify the means; political violence poisons those who use it; princes who saved their states by cruelty often lost themselves in the saving.
Of the Useful and the Honourable
The tension between what is expedient and what is honest; Montaigne refuses to serve the state through dishonour.