{
  "type": "quote",
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  "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francois-rabelais/gargantua-and-pantagruel/readers-friends-if-you",
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  "id": "5c223889-b996-4b35-ab7b-3f182ed3df9b",
  "slug": "readers-friends-if-you",
  "text": "Readers, friends, if you turn these pages\n\nPut your prejudice aside,\n\nFor, really, there's nothing here that's outrageous,\n\nNothing sick, or bad — or contagious.\n\nNot that I sit here glowing with pride\n\nFor my book: all you'll find is laughter:\n\nThat's all the glory my heart is after,\n\nSeeing how sorrow eats you, defeats you.\n\nI'd rather write about laughing than crying,\n\nFor laughter makes men human, and courageous.",
  "language": "en",
  "author": {
    "name": "François Rabelais",
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  "book": {
    "title": "Gargantua and Pantagruel",
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    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francois-rabelais/gargantua-and-pantagruel"
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  "character": null,
  "chapter": null,
  "chapter_parent": null,
  "page": null,
  "verified": false,
  "original": null,
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  "topics": [
    {
      "name": "humor",
      "slug": "humor",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor"
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  "source": {
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    "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Rabelais#Gargantua_and_Pantagruel_(1532%E2%80%931564)",
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      "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
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  "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:00",
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