Desiderius Erasmus quotes

In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king.

Desiderius Erasmus

I do not fast during Lent because although I have a Catholic soul, I have a Lutheran stomach.

Desiderius Erasmus

If you keep thinking about what you want to do or what you hope will happen, you don't do it, and it won't happen.

Desiderius Erasmus

The most disadvantageous peace is better than the most just war.

Desiderius Erasmus

The pleasures which we most rarely experience give us the greatest delight.

Desiderius Erasmus

War is delightful to those who have had no experience of it.

Desiderius Erasmus

When I get a little money, I buy books. And if there is any left over, I buy food.

Desiderius Erasmus

It is the chiefest point of happiness that a man is willing to be what he is.

Desiderius Erasmus

A peck of troubles.

Desiderius Erasmus

Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.

Desiderius Erasmus

They may attack me with an army of six hundred syllogisms. And if I do not recant, they will proclaim me a heretic.

Desiderius Erasmus

A nail is driven out by another nail. Habit is overcome by habit.

Desiderius Erasmus

It is folly alone that stays the fugue of Youth and beats off touring Old Age.

Desiderius Erasmus

When I get a little money,
I buy books. And if any is left,
I buy food and clothes.

Desiderius Erasmus

In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

Desiderius Erasmus

Before supper take a little walk, after supper do the same.

Desiderius Erasmus

By a Carpenter mankind was made, and only by that Carpenter can mankind be remade.

Desiderius Erasmus

The more ignorant, reckless and thoughtless a doctor is, the higher his reputation soars even amongst powerful princes.

Desiderius Erasmus

Everyone knows that by far the happiest and universally enjoyable age of man is the first. What is there about babies which makes us hug and kiss and fondle them, so that even an enemy would give them help at that age?

Desiderius Erasmus

As an example of just how useless these philosophers are for any practice in life there is Socrates himself, the one and only wise man, according to the Delphic Oracle. Whenever he tried to do anything in public he had to break off amid general laughter. While he was philosophizing about clouds and ideas, measuring a flea's foot and marveling at a midge's humming, he learned nothing about the affairs of ordinary life.

Desiderius Erasmus

It is wisdom in prosperity, when all is as thou wouldn't have it, to fear and suspect the worst.

Desiderius Erasmus