Desiderius Erasmus quotes

Desiderius Erasmus was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, theologian, and scholar known for his works on classical literature and Christian philosophy. Famous for advocating religious tolerance and critical thinking, his writings profoundly influenced the development of the Reformation and European intellectual history. He is remembered as one of the greatest figures of European humanism. Here are 101 of his quotes:

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

Desiderius Erasmus

I doubt if a single individual could be found from the whole of mankind free from some form of insanity. The only difference is one of degree. A man who sees a gourd and takes it for his wife is called insane because this happens to very few people.

Desiderius Erasmus

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

Desiderius Erasmus

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

Desiderius Erasmus

I have turned my entire attention to Greek. The first thing I shall do, as soon as the money arrives, is to buy some Greek authors after that, I shall buy clothes.

Desiderius Erasmus

This type of man who is devoted to the study of wisdom is always most unlucky in everything, and particularly when it comes to procreating children I imagine this is because Nature wants to ensure that the evils of wisdom shall not spread further throughout mankind.

Desiderius Erasmus

No Man is wise at all Times, or is without his blind Side.

Desiderius Erasmus

I am a citizen of the world, known to all and to all a stranger.

Desiderius Erasmus

There is nothing I congratulate myself on more heartily than on never having joined a sect.

Desiderius Erasmus

Do not be guilty of possessing a library of learned books while lacking learning yourself.

Desiderius Erasmus

You must acquire the best knowledge first, and without delay; it is the height of madness to learn what you will later have to unlearn.

Desiderius Erasmus

Nature, more of a stepmother than a mother in several ways, has sown a seed of evil in the hearts of mortals, especially in the more thoughtful men, which makes them dissatisfied with their own lot and envious of another s.

Desiderius Erasmus

I consider as lovers of books not those who keep their books hidden in their store-chests and never handle them, but those who, by nightly as well as daily use thumb them, batter them, wear them out, who fill out all the margins with annotations of many kinds, and who prefer the marks of a fault they have erased to a neat copy full of faults.

Desiderius Erasmus

It's the generally accepted privilege of theologians to stretch the heavens, that is the Scriptures, like tanners with a hide.

Desiderius Erasmus

Fortune favors the audacious.

Desiderius Erasmus

Great abundance of riches cannot be gathered and kept by any man without sin.

Desiderius Erasmus

Man's mind is so formed that it is far more susceptible to falsehood than to truth.

Desiderius Erasmus

Fools are without number.

Desiderius Erasmus

He who allows oppression shares the crime.

Desiderius Erasmus

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

Desiderius Erasmus

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

Desiderius Erasmus

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

Desiderius Erasmus