I never sleep comfortably except when I am at sermon or when I pray to God.
It is folly to put the plough in front of the oxen.
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.
Strike the iron whilst it is hot.
Pantagruelism is a certain gaitey of the spirit consisting in a disdain for the hazards of fortune.
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.
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.
Let every one be fully convinced in his own mind.
If the head is lost, all that perishes is the individual; if the balls are lost, all of human nature perishes.
Ha! for a divine and lordly manor, there is nothing like solid ground.
An old monkey never makes a pretty face.
Early rising is no pleasure; early drinking’s just the measure.
A bellyful is a bellyful.
It’s a shame to be called “educated” those who do not study the ancient Greek writers.
I’d gladly do without a valet. I’m never so well treated as when I’m without a valet.
I never drink without a thirst, either present or future.
Bottle, whose Mysterious Deep Do’s ten thousand Secrets keep, With attentive Ear I wait; Ease my Mind, and speak my Fate.
Bring down the curtain, the farce is over.
I owe much; I have nothing; the rest I leave to the poor.
There is nothing holy nor sacred to those who have abandoned God and reason in order to follow their perverse desires.