Quotes By Desiderius Erasmus

Fools are without number.

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

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?

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

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

Nothing is as peevish and pedantic as men's judgments of one another.

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

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

The desire to write grows with writing.

Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.

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

Concealed talent brings no reputation.

Whether a party can have much success without a woman present I must ask others to decide, but one thing is certain, no party is any fun unless seasoned with folly.

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

Man is to man either a god or a wolf.

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

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

Humility is truth.

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

He who allows oppression shares the crime.

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

Prevention is better than cure.

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

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

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

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.

War is sweet to those who have not experienced it.

To know nothing is the happiest life.

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

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.