"The Praise of Folly" by Erasmus.

On the Presentation of Folly "This world we live in now has become a complete absurdity," in which only fools may live happily. Thus it follows that the goddess Folly is the source of all happiness in the world; and as the nature of happiness is such, it is only natural that Folly should, like Morality, Wit, and Valor, have praises written in her name. At least, this is the sentiment with which Folly honors …showed first 75 words of 822 total…

…showed last 75 words of 822 total…sometimes flawed in argumentation, the overall effect of The Praise of Folly is one of both introspection and innate synthesis of Erasmus' ideas with man's current state. The syntax and idiomatic structure of the book presents a small hurdle that the most inexperienced of runners can easily overcome. Upon his successful completion of the book, the observant reader should not be overwhelmingly surprised to find that he too "[has] prais'd Folly, but not altogether foolishly."