Francois Rabelais Quotes

Of a young hermit, an old devil. [Fr., De jeune hermite, vieil diable.]

How shall I be able to rule over others, that have not full power and command of myself?

Time, which wears down and diminishes all things, augments and increases good deeds, because a good turn liberally offered to a reasonable man grows continually through noble thought and memory.

Appetite comes with eating.

Because just as arms have no force outside if there is no counsel within a house, study is vain and counsel useless that is not put to virtuous effect when the time calls.

Petite ville, grand renom. Small town, great renown.

One inch of joy surmounts of grief a span, Because to laugh is proper to the man.

I never sleep in comfort save when I am hearing a sermon or praying to God.

From the gut comes the strut, and where hunger reigns, strength abstains.

Wisdom entereth not into a malicious mind.

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

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

Believe me, 'tis a godlike thing to lend; to owe is a heroic virtue.

Don't limp in front of the lame.

I owe much; I have nothing; the rest I leave to the poor.

The appetite grows with eating.

It is better to write of laughter than of tears, for laughter is the property of man.

But where are the snows of last year? That was the greatest concern of Villon, the Parisian poet.

A bellyful is a bellyful.

It is folly to put the plough in front of the oxen.

The remedy for thirst? It is the opposite of the one for a dog bite: run always after a dog, he'll never bite you; drink always before thirst, and it will never overtake you.

He that has patience may compass anything.

Bottle, whose Mysterious Deep Do's ten thousand Secrets keep, With attentive Ear I wait; Ease my Mind, and speak my Fate.

The farce is finished. I go to seek a vast perhaps.

A crier of green sauce.

The Devil was sick - the Devil a monk would be, The Devil was well the devil a monk was he

We will take the good-will for the deed.

Against fortune the carter cracks his whip in vain. [Fr., Centre fortune, la diverse un chartier rompit nazardes son fouet.]

Hungry bellies have no cars.

It is the custom on Africa to always produce new and monstrous things. [Fr., Afrique est coustumiere toujours choses produire nouvelles et monstrueuses.]

Plain as a nose in a man's face.

I have known many who could not when they would, for they had not done it when they could.

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

The dress does not make the monk. [Fr., L'habit ne fait le moine.]

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

The belly has no ears nor is it to be filled with fair words.

Row on [whatever happens]. [Lat., Vogue la galere.]

I do not drink more than a sponge.

Indeed, said the monk, a mass, a matins, and vespers well rung are half-said.

So that we may not be like the Athenians, who never consulted except after the event done. [Fr., Afin que ne semblons es Athenians, qui ne consultoient jamais sinon apres le cas faict.]

Let every one be fully convinced in his own mind.

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.

Strike the iron whilst it is hot.

Fate leads the willing, and th' unwilling draws.

It is said, proverbially, that happy is the doctor who is called in when the disease is on its way out.

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

Not everyone is a debtor who wishes to be; not everyone who wishes makes creditors.

Science sans conscience n' est que le ruine de l'âme. Knowledge without conscience is but the ruine of the soule.

Such is the nature and make-up of the French that they are only good at the start. Then they are worse than devils, but, given time, they're less than women.

Nature made the day for exercise, work and seeing to one's business; and ... it provides us with a candle, which is to say the bright and joyous light of the sun.