Erasmus Quotes

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king

For anyone who loves intensely lives not in himself but in the object of his love, and the further he can move out of himself into his love, the happier he is.

"But I am well aware of the excuse which men, ever ingenious in devising mischief to themselves as well as others, offer in extenuation of their conduct in going to war. They allege, that they are compelled to it; that they are dragged against their will to war. I answer them, deal fairly; pull off the mask; throw away all false colours; consult your own heart, and you will find that anger, ambition, and folly are the compulsory force that has dragged you to war, and not any necessity; unless indeed you call the insatiable cravings of a covetous mind, necessity" ` The Complaint of Peace

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.

It is the most deplorable tribute when the succession of an inferior ruler turns his predecessor, who was intolerable while he lived, into someone whose integrity and goodness are sadly missed.

"Just as, according to the proverb of the Greeks, "an ape is always an ape, though dressed in scarlet," so a woman is always a woman — that is, a fool — whatever part she may have chosen to play."

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

For what benefit is beauty, the greatest blessing of heaven, if it be mixed with affectation? What youth, if corrupted with the severity of old age? Lastly,

Com efeito, que é definir? É encerrar a ideia de uma coisa nos seus justos limites. E que é dividir? É separar uma coisa de suas diversas partes. Ora, nem uma nem outra me convém. Como poderia limitar-me, quando o meu poder se estende a todo o gênero humano? E, como poderia dividir-me, quando tudo concorre, em geral, para sustentar minha divindade? Além disso, porque haveria de me pintar como sombra e imagem numa definição quando estou diante dos vossos olhos e me vedes em pessoa?

so sweet a thing it is not to be wise, that on the contrary men rather pray against anything than folly.

Nothing doth worse become a man (I will not say a Christian man) than war.

Nada hay más necio, sin duda, que hablar en serio de lo que es pura necedad, ni nada más divertido que hablar en broma de aquello que no se sospecharía que lo fuera.

Wenn Klugheit vor allem auf praktischer Erfahrung beruht, wem wird dann die Ehre dieser Bezeichnung mehr zustehen? Dem Weisen, der teils aus Scham, teils aus Ängstlichkeit, sich an nichts wagt? Oder dem Toren, dem weder Scham, die ihm abgeht, noch Gefahr, die er nicht in Betracht zieht, von irgendeiner Herausforderung abschreckt?

Nicht die haben Bücher recht lieb, welche sie unberührt in den Schränken aufheben, sondern die, die sie Tag und Nacht in den Händen halten.

aquello de que se carece es lo que más conviene aparentar;