Quotations from 1st 100 pp. of Gargantua and Pantagruel (French Renaissance lit)

*"Leave aside all such thoughts, my Lord, and go to bed, for I sense that you are so agitated in your mind from such an excess of thinking that you risk soon succumbing to a chronic fever." (101: Panurge speaking to Pantagruel about excess studying and thinking about morbid and serious issues)

*"My Lord, insofar as it lies in my power, I would not deny anyone to share in the gifts of grace which God has vouchsafed me, for every good thing comes from him above, and his will is that it be multiplied when one finds oneself amongst people worthy and able to receive that Heaven-sent manna of sound learning, amongst the numbers of whom, as I well perceive, you now occupy the foremost rank, so I assure you that you will find me ready at any time to comply with each one of your requests, according to my modest power, even though it is I who should be learning more from you rather than you from me; but as you have publicly announced, we will confer about your doubts together and seek that resolution of them which you and I must find" (100: Pantagruel to a new friend whom he believes to be a man of learning showing that he believes knowledge to come from heaven and that there is no greater pleasure than sharing that with another person)

"***Here is my favorite!!!! Remember that Panurge is a dissolute individual to say the least who proposes that the city should build a new wall around the residents made of male and female genitals as everyone gives those things away. Panurge is a thief. In Turkey he was nearly roasted on a spit. He gets into lawsuits with cities demanding that women wear clothing with a slit in the front area instead of the back so that a man can get into their boobs for if they don't he will begin wearing his codpiece outside his pants. At church he stains fashionable women's clothing and pours chemicals down haughty women's backs to get them to step out of their clothes hurriedly.
"My friend," he replied, you have no fun in this world. I have more fun than the king! If you join in with me we shall have a deuce of a time." "No, no,"I said, "By Saint Up in the Air-ius, one of these days you are going to be hanged." "And one of these days you're going to be buried. Which is the more honourable: the air or the ground? Oh, what a dull beast you are! And Jesus Christ: was he not hanged in the air? (96: Pantagruel showing concern that his friend is going to hang for all the tricks that he does on various individuals )

*"Do you see that man coming along the road from the Pont de Charenton? I swear he is poor only by chance, for I assure you from reading his face that Nature produced him from some rich and noble ancestry, but the trials which befall folk who are eager for knowledge have reduced him to such poverty and penury" (51: Pantagruel speaking about this stranger whom he is seen, later to become his friend Panurge)

Here is my second favorite quotation!!!***"I want you to learn all of the beautiful tesxts of Civil Law by heart and compare them to moral philosophy. And as for knowledge of natural phenomena, I want you to apply yourself to it with curiosity: let there be no sea, river, or steam the fishes of which you do not know. Know all the birds of the air, all the trees, bushes, and shrubs of the forests, all the herbs in the soil, all the metals hidden deep in the womb of the Earth, the precious stones of the Orient and the South: let none remain unknown to you...Beware of the world's deceits. Give not your mind unto vanity, for this is a transitory life, but the word of God endureth for ever. Be of service to your neighbours and love them as yourself. Venerate your teachers. Flee the company of those whom you do not wish to resemble." (48-49: This is a small excerpt of Gargantua's letter to his son, Pantagruel. Wouldn't you like to have a father like that, even if he is religious. Sometimes good religious people are able to use their faith as a means of finding truth and such people should be admired)
:alien: