"This flea which I have in mine ear."

François Rabelais Literature See all quotes by François Rabelais →

React to this quote

More by François Rabelais

“What cannot be cured must be endured.”

“There was left only the monk to provide for, whom Gargantua would have made Abbot of Seville, but he refused it. He would have given him the Abbey of Bourgueil, or of Sanct Florent, which was better, or both, if it pleased him ; but the monk gave him a very peremptory answer, that he would never take upon him the charge nor government of monks. For how shall I be able, said he, to rule over others, that have not full power and command of myself: If you think I have done you, or may hereafter do you any acceptable service, give me leave to found an abbey after my own mind and fancy.”

“He did not care a button for it.”

“So much is a man worth as he esteems himself.”

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

“Scampering as if the Devil drove them.”

Resonant Thoughts

"I strongly believe that a small Jewish clique which has contempt for the mass of Jewish people worked with non-Jews to create the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the Second World War. Thi…"

— David Icke

Sports1952

#ethics

"I learned that people in wheelchairs are allowed to have marathons … which, to me, seems like cheating, but what are you gonna say?"

— Sarah Silverman

Entertainment1970

#knowledge

"In spite of half a century of effort, our society—and still more our world—is still disfigured by gross unfairness. ... Concern is indivisible and so is selfishness. A society which says 'to hell with…"

— Roy Jenkins

Politics1920–2003

#justice

"So the Church imitates the Lord’s mother — not in the bodily sense, which it could not do — but in mind it is both mother and virgin. In no way, then, did Christ deprive his mother of her virginity by…"

— Augustine of Hippo

Philosophy354–430

#philosophy