Erasmus Quotes

The summit of happiness is reached when a person is ready to be what he is.

Peu de gens comprennent l'immense avantage qu'il y a à ne jamais hésiter et à tout oser.

It is not the office that brings honour to the man, but the man to the office.

The desire to write grows with writing.

[Habla la estulticia]: Los estoicos se creen casi dioses; pues bien dadme uno de ellos que sea tres, o cuatro y hasta seiscientas veces más estoico que los demás, e incluso a éste le haré abandonar, si no la barba, signo de sabiduría, común por cierto con los machos cabríos, por lo menos el entrecejo fruncido; le haré desarrugar la frente, dejar a un lado sus dogmas diamantinos y hasta tontear y delirar un poquito.

Bătrânii se dau în vânt după copii, şi copiii după bătrâni , fiindcă zeilor le place să-i adune pe cei care se aseamănă. Şi de nu luăm în seamă ridurile şi anii pe care îi poartă bătrâneţea, pot semăna două lucruri mai bine decât bătrânul cu copilul?

I know this is overused...but it is accurate!

When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes.

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?

Given a choice between a folly and a sacrament, one should always choose the folly — because we know a sacrament will not bring us closer to god and there’s always the chance that a folly will.

The working of miracles is old and out-dated; to teach the people is too laborious; to interpret scripture is to invade the prerogative of the schoolmen; to pray is too idle; to shed tears is cowardly and unmanly; to fast is too mean and sordid; to be easy and familiar is beneath the grandeur of him, who, without being sued to and intreated, will scarce give princes the honour of kissing his toe; finally, to die for religion is too self-denying; and to be crucified as their Lord of Life, is base and ignominious.

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

Zu dieser Gilde der Narren gehören auch die Leute, die schon zu Lebzeiten so minutiös festlegen, mit welchem Begräbnisprunk sie beigesetzt werden wollen, dass sie sogar ausdrücklich verfügen, wie viele Fackeln, wie viele Schwarzröcke, wie viele Sänger, wie viele Trauermimen sie dabei haben wollen, gerade, als ob einer dieses Schauspiel noch mit eigenem Sinne erleben könnte oder sich die Hingegangenen schämen müssten, wenn ihr Leichnam nicht glanzvoll in die Grube fährt.

Ciertamente no hay nada tan fatuo como la ignorancia combinada con la convicción de que uno sabe mucho.

But tell me, I beseech you, what man is that would submit his neck to the noose of wedlock, if, as wise men should, he did but first truly weigh the inconvenience of the thing? Or

I hear the philosophers opposing it and saying 'tis a miserable thing for a man to be foolish, to err, mistake, and know nothing truly. Nay rather, this is to be a man. And why they should call it miserable, I see no reason; forasmuch as we are so born, so bred, so instructed, nay such is the common condition of us all.