Desiderius Erasmus's Quotes

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.

Nowadays the rage for possession has got to such a pitch that there is nothing in the realm of nature, whether sacred or profane, out of which profit cannot be squeezed.

Don't give your advice before you are called upon.

Great eagerness in the pursuit of wealth, pleasure, or honor, cannot exist without sin.

It is an unscrupulous intellect that does not pay to antiquity its due reverence.

Reflection is a flower of the mind, giving out wholesome fragrance; but revelry is the same flower, when rank and running to seed.

Human affairs are so obscure and various that nothing can be clearly known.

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

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

War is sweet to those who have not experienced it.

What difference is there, do you think, between those in Plato's cave who can only marvel at the shadows and images of various objects, provided they are content and don't know what they miss, and the philosopher who has emerged from the cave and sees the real things?

A good portion of speaking will consist in knowing how to lie.

By burning Luther's books you may rid your bookshelves of him, but you will not rid men's minds of him.

Everybody hates a prodigy, detests an old head on young shoulders.

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

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

Luther was guilty of two great crimes - he struck the Pope in his crown, and the monks in their belly.

The entire world is my temple, and a very fine one too, if I'm not mistaken, and I'll never lack priests to serve it as long as there are men.

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

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

What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.

Now I believe I can hear the philosophers protesting that it can only be misery to live in folly, illusion, deception and ignorance, but it isn't -it's human.

The nearer people approach old age the closer they return to a semblance of childhood, until the time comes for them to depart this life, again like children, neither tired of living nor aware of death.