Quote

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

Francois Rabelais

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Francois Rabelais
Died: 1553
Died: April 9
Clergyman
Monk
Novelist
Physician Writer
Writer
Chinon-sur-Vienne
Francois Rabelais
Rabelais
Made
Antiquity
Foolish
Present
Wise

More quotes by Francois Rabelais

Image
Can there be any greater dotage in the world than for one to guide and direct his courses by the sound of a bell, and not by his own judgment.
Francois Rabelais
Image
If you say to me: Master, it would seem that you weren't too terribly wise to have written these bits of nonsense and pleasant mockeries, I respond that you are hardly more so in finding amusement in reading them.
Francois Rabelais
Image
I never drink without a thirst, either present or future.
Francois Rabelais
Image
It is folly to put the plough in front of the oxen.
Francois Rabelais
Image
War begun without good provision of money beforehand for going through with it is but as a breathing of strength and blast that will quickly pass away. Coin is the sinews of war.
Francois Rabelais
Image
According to true military art, one should never push one's enemy to the point of despair, because such a state multiplies his strength and increases his courage which had already been crushed and failing, and because there is no better remedy for the health of beaten and overwhelmed men than the absence of all hope.
Francois Rabelais
Image
Friends, you will notice that in this world there are many more ballocks than men. Remember this.
Francois Rabelais
Image
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.
Francois Rabelais
Image
A child is not a vase to be filled, but a fire to be lit.
Francois Rabelais
Image
You have no obligation under the sun other than to discover your real needs, to fulfill them, and to rejoice in doing so.
Francois Rabelais
Image
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.
Francois Rabelais
Image
For God, nothing is impossible. And, if he wanted, in the future women would give birth from their ears.
Francois Rabelais
Image
Remove idleness from the world and soon the arts of Cupid would perish.
Francois Rabelais
Image
He that has patience may compass anything.
Francois Rabelais
Image
Don't limp in front of the lame.
Francois Rabelais
Image
Wait a second while I take a swig off this bottle: it's my true and only Helicon, my Caballine fount, my sole Enthusiasm. Here, drinking, I deliberate, I reason, I resolve and conclude. After the epilogue I laugh, I write, I compose, I drink. Ennius drinking would write, writing would drink.
Francois Rabelais
Image
A man of good sense always believes what he is told, and what he finds written down.
Francois Rabelais
Image
The dress does not make the monk. [Fr., L'habit ne fait le moine.]
Francois Rabelais
Image
A war undertaken without sufficient monies has but a wisp of force. Coins are the very sinews of battles.
Francois Rabelais
Image
Machination is worth more than force.
Francois Rabelais