Words of Wisdom—François Rabelais

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François Rabelais (1483 – 1553) was a French writer, Christian humanist, physician, Greek scholar, and satirist. He is known as the first great French prose author.

Below we list some words of wisdom from François Rabelais.

“When my soul leaves this human dwelling, I will not consider myself to have completely died, but to pass from one state to another, given that, in you and by you, I remain in my visible image in this world.”

“If you wish to avoid seeing a fool, you must first break your mirror.”

“Ignorance is the mother of all evils.”

“It is my feeling that Time ripens all things; with Time all things are revealed; Time is the father of truth.”

“Science without conscience is the soul’s perdition.”

“Wisdom entereth not into a malicious mind.”

“Tell the truth and shame the devil.”

“So much is a man worth as he esteems himself.”

“I place no hope in my strength, nor in my works: but all my confidence is in God my protector, who never abandons those who have put all their hope and thought in him.”

“I urge you to spend your youth profitably in study and virtue…. In brief, let me see in you an abyss of knowledge.”

“I never sleep comfortably except when I am at sermon or when I pray to God.”

“In their rules there was only one clause: Do what you will.”

“I’ve often heard it said, as the common proverb goes, that a fool can teach a wise man well.”

“How do you know antiquity was foolish? How do you know the present is wise? Who made it foolish? Who made it wise?”

“In this mortal life, nothing is blessed throughout.”

“If you wish to be good “Pantagruelists” (which is to say, live in peace, joy, health, and always dining well), never put too much faith in people who look out through a hole.”

“I won’t undertake war until I have tried all the arts and means of peace.”

“Nature abhors a vacuum.”

“Always open all gates and roads to your enemies, and rather make for them a bridge of silver, to get rid of them.”

“The dress does not make the monk.”

“He who has not an adventure has not horse or mule, so says Solomon.–Who is too adventurous, said Echephron,–loses horse and mule.”

“Men that are free, well-born, well-bred, and conversant in honest companies, have naturally an instinct and spur that prompteth them unto virtuous actions, and withdraws them from vice, which is called honour. Those same men, when by base subjection and constraint they are brought under and kept down, turn aside from that noble disposition, by which they formerly were inclined to virtue, to shake off and break that bond of servitude, wherein they are so tyrannously enslaved; for it is agreeable with the nature of man to long after things forbidden, and to desire what is denied us.”

“It is quite a common and vulgar thing among humans to understand, foresee, know and predict the troubles of others. But oh what a rare thing it is to predict, know, foresee and understand one’s own troubles.”

“One should never pursue the hazards of fortune to their very ends and it behooves all adventurers to treat their good luck with reverence, neither bothering nor upsetting it.”

“He that has patience may compass anything.”

“According to the sage Solomon, wisdom does not enter into a soul that seeks after evil, and knowledge without conscienceis the ruin of the soul, it behooves you to serve, love and fear God and to put all your thoughts and hope in him, and by faith founded in charity, be joined to him, such that you never be separated from him by sin.”

“There is nothing holy nor sacred to those who have abandoned God and reason in order to follow their perverse desires.”

“All things have their ends and cycles. And when they have reached their highest point, they are in their lowest ruin, for they cannot last for long in such a state. Such is the end for those who cannot moderate their fortune and prosperity with reason and temperance.”

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