Wisdom of Desiderius Erasmus

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (October 28th, 1466 – July 12th 1536) was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic theologian, educationalist, satirist, and philosopher. He is regarded as one of the most influential thinkers of the Northern Renaissance and a major figure of Dutch and Western culture.

Besides pioneering new Latin and Greek scholarly editions of the New Testament and of the Church Fathers, he also wrote On Free Will, The Praise of Folly, The Complaint of Peace, Handbook of a Christian Knight, On Civility in Children, Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style and many other titles.

Below we list some words of wisdom from Desiderius Erasmus

"Read first the best books. The important thing for you is not how much you know, but the quality of what you know."

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

"Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself."

"The main hope of a nation lies in the proper education of its youth"

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

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

"The chief element of happiness is this: to want to be what you are."

"He who allows oppression shares the crime."

"Now what else is the whole life of mortals, but a sort of comedy in which the various actors, disguised by various costumes and masks, walk on and play each ones part until the manager walks them off the stage?"

"Your library is your paradise."

"Prevention is better than cure."

"Sacred scripture is of course the basic authority for everything; yet I sometimes run across ancient sayings or pagan writings - even the poets - so purely and reverently and admirably expressed that I can't help believing the author's hearts were moved by some divine power. And perhaps the spirit of Christ is more widespread than we understand, and the company of the saints includes many not on our calendar."

"Many times what cannot be refuted by arguments can be parried by laughter."

"At last concluded that no creature was more miserable than man, for that all other creatures are content with those bounds that nature set them, only man endeavors to exceed them."

"The majority of the common people loathe war and pray for peace; only a handful of individuals, whose evil joys depend on general misery, desire war."

"Before you sleep, read something that is exquisite, and worth remembering."

"I put up with this church, in the hope that one day it will become better, just as it is constrained to put up with me in the hope that I will become better."

"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."

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

"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.”

"There are some whose only reason for inciting war is to use it as a means to exercise their tyranny over their subjects more easily. For in times of peace the authority of the assembly, the dignity of the magistrates, the force of the laws stand in the way to some extent of the ruler doing what he likes. But once war is declared then the whole business of state is subject to the will of a few...They demand as much money as they like. Why say more?"

"What passes out of one's mouth passes into a hundred ears. It is a great misfortune not to have sense enough to speak well."

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

"There is no joy in possession without sharing."

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

"Picture the prince, such as most of them are today: a man ignorant of the law, well-nigh an enemy to his people's advantage, while intent on his personal convenience, a dedicated voluptuary, a hater of learning, freedom and truth, without a thought for the interests of his country, and measuring everything in terms of his own profit and desires."

"Our determination to imitate Christ should be such that we have no time for other matters."

"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."

Copyright © Stephen Petullo, Scott Petullo