Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus was a Dutch philosopher and Christian scholar who is widely considered to have been one of the greatest scholars of the northern Renaissance. As a Catholic priest, Erasmus was an important figure in classical scholarship who wrote in a pure Latin style. These Desiderius Erasmus quotes will motivate you.
Best Desiderius Erasmus Quotes
- “Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.” ~ 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.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “Man’s mind is so formed that it is far more susceptible to falsehood than to truth.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “The main hope of a nation lies in the proper education of its youth” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “The chief element of happiness is this: to want to be what you are.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
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“He who allows oppression shares the crime.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “The desire to write grows with writing.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “Our determination to imitiate Christ should be such that we have no time for other matters.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “Love that has nothing but beauty to keep it in good health is short-lived.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “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.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
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“Eagles don’t catch flies.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “There is no joy in possession without sharing.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “By a Carpenter, mankind was made, and only by that Carpenter can mankind be remade.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “He who doesn’t sin, is the greatest sinner of all.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “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.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “Before you sleep, read something that is exquisite, and worth remembering.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
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“No one respects a talent that is concealed.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “Don’t give your advice before you are called upon.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “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.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “Prevention is better than cure.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
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“Your library is your paradise.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “The highest form of bliss is living with a certain degree of folly” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “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.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “There is nothing I congratulate myself on more heartily than on never having joined a sect.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “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?” ~ 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
- “Great abundance of riches cannot be gathered and kept by any man without sin.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
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“Frugality is a handsome income.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “Nothing is as peevish and pedantic as men’s judgments of one another.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “It is the chiefest point of happiness that a man is willing to be what he is.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “War is sweet to those who haven’t tasted it. Dulce bellum inexpertis.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “Fortune favors the audacious.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “I am a citizen of the world, known to all and to all a stranger.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “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.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “Do not be guilty of possessing a library of learned books while lacking learning yourself.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
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“Bidden or unbidden, God is present.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “Many times what cannot be refuted by arguments can be parried by laughter.” ~ 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
- “It is an unscrupulous intellect that does not pay to antiquity its due reverence.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “It is a greater advantage to be honestly educated than honorably born.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “It seems to me to be the best proof of an evangelical disposition, that persons are not angry when reproached, and have a Christian charity for those that ill deserve it.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
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“A good portion of speaking will consist in knowing how to lie.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “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?” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “Wherever you encounter truth, look upon it as Christianity.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “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.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
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“No Man is wise at all Times, or is without his blind Side.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “Amongst the learned the lawyers claim first place, the most self-satisfied class of people, as they roll their rock of Sisyphus and string together six hundred laws in the same breath, no matter whether relevant or not, piling up opinion on opinion and gloss on gloss to make their profession seem the most difficult of all. Anything which causes trouble has special merit in their eyes.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “By identifying the new learning with heresy, you make orthodoxy synonymous with ignorance.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
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“War is delightful to those who have had no experience of it.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “Apothegms are in history, the same as pearls in the sand, or gold in the mine.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “Great eagerness in the pursuit of wealth, pleasure, or honor, cannot exist without sin.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “Young bodies are like tender plants, which grow and become hardened to whatever shape you’ve trained them.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “Fools are without number.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “Do not put chewed bones back on plates. Instead, throw them on the floor for the dog.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
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“Everybody hates a prodigy, detests an old head on young shoulders.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “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?” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “For them, it’s out-of-date and outmoded to perform miracles; teaching the people is too like hard work, interpreting the holy scriptures is for schoolmen and praying is a waste of time; to shed tears is weak and womanish, to be needy is degrading; to suffer defeat is a disgrace and hardly fitting for one who scarcely permits the greatest of kings to kiss the toes of his sacred feet; and finally, death is an unattractive prospect, and dying on a cross would be an ignominious end.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “Concealed talent brings no reputation.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “Heaven grant that the burden you carry may have as easy an exit as it had an entrance. Prayer To A Pregnant Woman” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “Nothing is so foolish, they say, as for a man to stand for office and woo the crowd to win its vote, buy its support with presents, court the applause of all those fools and feel self-satisfied when they cry their approval, and then in his hour of triumph to be carried around like an effigy for the public to stare at, and end up cast in bronze to stand in the market place.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
- “Of two evils choose the least.” ~ Desiderius Erasmus
