Quotes from book
Gargantua and Pantagruel

Gargantua and Pantagruel
Francois Rabelais Original title La vie très horrifique du grand Gargantua, père de Pantagruel (French, 1534)

The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel is a pentalogy of novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais, which tells of the adventures of two giants, Gargantua and his son Pantagruel . The text is written in an amusing, extravagant, and satirical vein, and features much crudity, scatological humor, and violence .

Francois Rabelais photo

“Nothing is so dear and precious as time.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Fifth Book (1564), Chapter 5.

Francois Rabelais photo

“A certain jollity of mind, pickled in the scorn of fortune.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Certaine gayeté d'esprit conficte en mespris des choses fortuites.
Prologue de l'autheur.
Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Fourth Book (1548, 1552)

Francois Rabelais photo

“Needs must when the Devil drives.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Fourth Book (1548, 1552), Chapter 57.

Francois Rabelais photo

“To laugh is proper to man.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Pour ce que rire est le propre de l'homme.
Rabelais to the Reader (prefatory note on leading page).
Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Gargantua (1534)

Francois Rabelais photo

“Then fail not most carefully to peruse the books of the Greek, Arabian, and Latin physicians, not despising the Talmudists and Cabalists; and by frequent anatomies get thee the perfect knowledge of that other world, called the microcosm, which is man. And at some of the hours of the day apply thy mind to the study of the Holy Scriptures; first, in Greek, the New Testament, with the Epistles of the Apostles;: and then the Old Testament in Hebrew. In brief, let me see thee an abyss and bottomless pit of knowledge; for from henceforward, as thou growest great and becomest a man, thou must part from this tranquillity and rest of study, thou must learn chivalry, warfare, and the exercises of the field, the better thereby to defend my house and our friends, and to succour and protect them at all their needs against the invasion and assaults of evildoers.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Pantagruel (1532), Chapter 8.

Francois Rabelais photo

“A good crier of green sauce.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Gargantua (1534), Chapter 31.

Francois Rabelais photo

“Corn is the sinews of war.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Gargantua (1534), Chapter 46.

Francois Rabelais photo

“Comrades, I hear the track and beating of the enemy's horse-feet, and withal perceive that some of them come in a troop and full body against us. Let us rally and close here, then set forward in order, and by this means we shall be able to receive their charge to their loss and our honour.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Gargantua (1534), Chapter 43.

Francois Rabelais photo

“Then I began to think that it is very true which is commonly said, that the one half of the world knoweth not how the other half liveth.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Gargantua (1534), Chapter 32.

Francois Rabelais photo

“He that has patience may compass anything.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Fourth Book (1548, 1552), Chapter 48.

Francois Rabelais photo

“Do not believe what I tell you here any more than if it were some tale of a tub.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Fourth Book (1548, 1552), Chapter 38.

Francois Rabelais photo

“You have there hit the nail on the head.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Third Book (1546), Chapter 34.

Francois Rabelais photo

“Let us fly and save our bacon.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Fourth Book (1548, 1552), Chapter 55.

Francois Rabelais photo

“In all companies there are more fools than wise men, and the greater part always gets the better of the wiser.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

En toutes compagnies il y a plus de folz que de sages, et la plus grande partie surmonte tousjours la meilleure.
Chapter 10 http://books.google.com/books?id=wfRKAQAAIAAJ&q=%22En+toutes+compagnies+il+y+a+plus+de+folz+que+de+sages+et+la+plus+grande+partie+surmonte+tousjours+la+meilleure%22&pg=PA285#v=onepage.
Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Pantagruel (1532)

Francois Rabelais photo

“I would have you call to mind the strength of the ancient giants, that undertook to lay the high mountain Pelion on the top of Ossa, and set among those the shady Olympus.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Fourth Book (1548, 1552), Chapter 38.

Francois Rabelais photo

“What cannot be cured must be endured.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Fifth Book (1564), Chapter 15.

Francois Rabelais photo

“I drink no more than a sponge.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Gargantua (1534), Chapter 5.

Francois Rabelais photo

“What is got over the Devil's back is spent under the belly.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Fifth Book (1564), Chapter 11.

Francois Rabelais photo

“Scampering as if the Devil drove them.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Fourth Book (1548, 1552), Chapter 62.

Francois Rabelais photo

“We saw a knot of others, about a baker's dozen.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Fifth Book (1564), Chapter 22.