I’m trying to figure out the origin of the phrase below. It may be from a 17th or 18th century eulogy, possibly for someone along the lines of Thomas More or Bishop Berkeley:
“No scholar more saintly, no saint more scholarly”
Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks!
Oops! Shoulda searched on! I just found it! Bishop Ussher’s tombstone
Historian, Literary Critic, Theologian.
Among saints—most scholarly
Among scholars—most saintly.
The tombstone is in Latin, so the original is
HISTORICVS CRITICVS THEOLOGVS
INTER SANCTOS ERUDITISSIMVS
INTER ERUDITOS SANCTISSIMVS
Marx used a similar device in his attack on Proudhon, to wit,
“M. Proudhon has the misfortune of being peculiarly misunderstood in Europe. In France, he has the right to be a bad economist, because he is reputed to be a good German philosopher. In Germany, he has the right to be a bad philosopher, because he is reputed to be one of the ablest French economists. Being both German and economist at the same time, we desire to protest against this double error.”
As Mark Twain noted, “In German, a joke is no laughing matter.”
Among asses–most dumb.