# On the origin of the phrase "No scholar more saintly, no saint more scholarly"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-origin-of-the-phrase-no-scholar-more-saintly-no-saint-more-scholarly/989713>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 7, 2023, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-origin-of-the-phrase-no-scholar-more-saintly-no-saint-more-scholarly/989713 "2023-09-07T01:33:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-origin-of-the-phrase-no-scholar-more-saintly-no-saint-more-scholarly/989713/1 "2023-09-07T01:33:11Z")

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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!

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**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-origin-of-the-phrase-no-scholar-more-saintly-no-saint-more-scholarly/989713/2 "2023-09-07T02:39:52Z")

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Oops! Shoulda searched on! I just found it! [Bishop Ussher](https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Ussher)’s tombstone

> Historian, Literary Critic, Theologian.  
> Among saints—most scholarly  
> Among scholars—most saintly.

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-origin-of-the-phrase-no-scholar-more-saintly-no-saint-more-scholarly/989713/3 "2023-09-07T15:50:25Z")

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The [tombstone](http://reformationanglicanism.blogspot.com/2014/01/4-jan-1581-birth-of-mr-abp-james-ussher.html) is in Latin, so the original is

> HISTORICVS CRITICVS THEOLOGVS  
> INTER SANCTOS ERUDITISSIMVS  
> INTER ERUDITOS SANCTISSIMVS

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**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-origin-of-the-phrase-no-scholar-more-saintly-no-saint-more-scholarly/989713/4 "2023-09-07T23:46:34Z")

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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.”

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**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-origin-of-the-phrase-no-scholar-more-saintly-no-saint-more-scholarly/989713/5 "2023-09-08T00:39:03Z")

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> [@KarlGauss](#):
>
> [Bishop Ussher](https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Ussher)’s tombstone

Among asses–most dumb.