A little Learning is a dangerous Thing.

A little learning is a dangerous thing, but we must take that risk because a little is as much as our biggest heads can hold.

اشرب بعمق أو لا تتذوق ينبوع المعرفة
فالجرعات الضحلة تسمم العقل
وكثير من الشرب يعيدنا إلى يقظتنا ثانية

A Little Learning misleadeth, and a great deal often stupifieth the Understanding.

Much learning shows how little mortals know;
Much wealth, how little worldlings can enjoy.

"‎"I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim." — "

"Who drinks one bowl hath scant delight; to poorest passion he was born;
"Who drains the score must e'er expect to rue the headache of the morn."
Safely he jogs along the way which "Golden Mean" the sages call;
Who scales the brow of frowning Alp must face full many a slip and fall.

The black earth drinks, in turn
The trees drink up the earth.
The sea the torrents drinks, the sun the sea,
And the moon drinks the sun.
Why, comrades, do ye flout me,
If I, too, wish to drink?

I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows. But now the damned things have learned to swim ,and now decency and good behavior weary me.

Let schoolmasters puzzle their brain,
With grammar, and nonsense, and learning;
Good liquor, I stoutly maintain,
Gives genus a better discerning.

A lot of learning can
be a little thing.

He who does not give himself leisure to be thirsty cannot take pleasure in drinking.

Spend the years of learning squandering
Courage for the years of wandering
Through a world politely turning
From the loutishness of learning.

Damn what you like, Pieterzoon. But don’t damn liquor. It’s the stuff of life!