Project Gutenberg 2005-11-01 Public domain in the USA. 512 Erasmus, Desiderius 1469 1536 Erasmus, of Rotterdam Wilson, John 1626 1696 Wilson, J. (John) Moriae encomium. English The Praise of Folly Reading ease score: 61.6 (8th & 9th grade). Neither easy nor difficult to read. Produced by Robert Shimmin and PG Distributed Proofreaders. HTML version by Al Haines "The Praise of Folly" by Desiderius Erasmus is a satirical oration written during the early 16th century. The work is presented as a speech by Folly herself, who seeks to humorously extol her own virtues while critiquing the foolishness inherent in human behavior and society. Through mock-serious tones and witty reflections on the characteristics of folly, Erasmus invites readers to reconsider the value placed on wisdom and seriousness in life. At the start of the text, Erasmus addresses his friend Thomas More, setting a light-hearted and convivial stage for the speech that follows. Folly personifies herself as a deity, claiming her influence over gods and men alike. She playfully argues that her presence brings joy and pleasure to life while highlighting the absurdities and contradictions of human nature, particularly those associated with wisdom, self-importance, and social pretensions. Folly clearly forms her own “household” of figures akin to self-love, pleasure, and laziness, establishing a vibrant tableau that illustrates how her reign impacts relationships and societal norms. Throughout these passages, she makes both light and profound observations, suggesting that embracing folly might lead to a happier and more fulfilled existence than pursuing relentless wisdom and seriousness. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Folly -- Early works to 1800 Folly -- Religious aspects -- Christianity PA Text Banned Books from Anne Haight's list Browsing: Literature Browsing: Philosophy & Ethics Browsing: Religion/Spirituality/Paranormal 233786 233787 2024-10-04T10:36:05.225376 2023-10-04T09:32:44.192372 text/html text/html 230166 2014-10-03T08:59:10 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 87491 2014-10-03T09:00:06 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 151638 2024-10-04T10:36:11.059356 application/epub+zip 154384 2024-10-04T10:36:07.586351 application/epub+zip 154383 2024-10-04T10:36:06.057368 application/epub+zip 274285 2024-10-04T10:36:13.762330 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 264913 2024-10-04T10:36:10.267344 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 239825 2022-09-05T03:58:32.186542 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 225938 225861 2024-10-04T10:36:04.817373 2023-10-04T09:32:43.967361 text/plain; charset=us-ascii text/plain 225736 2014-10-03T08:59:16 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 86476 2014-10-03T09:00:06 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 225727 2014-10-03T08:59:14 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 86457 2014-10-03T09:00:06 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 23144 2024-10-04T10:36:14.101302 application/rdf+xml 12515 2024-10-04T10:36:06.783378 image/jpeg 3222 2024-10-04T10:36:06.420350 image/jpeg 150136 2024-10-04T10:36:05.248366 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog nl.wikipedia en.wikipedia en.wikipedia