Desiderius Erasmus Quotes - Page 2

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• It is a greater advantage to be honestly educated than honorably born.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Advantage, Born, Educated

  Desiderius Erasmus (1965). “Essential works of Erasmus”

  39 Copy quote

• Almost all Christians being wretchedly enslaved to blindness and ignorance, which the priests are so far from preventing or removing, that they blacken the darkness, and promote the delusion: wisely foreseeing that the people (like cows, which never give down their milk so well as when they are gently stroked), would part with less if they knew more.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Christian, Ignorance, People

  Desiderius Erasmus (2016). “In Praise of Folly”, p.43, Desiderius Erasmus

  18 Copy quote

• 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

  War, People, Evil

  Desiderius Erasmus, Erika Rummel (1990). “The Erasmus Reader”, p.313, University of Toronto Press

  56 Copy quote

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

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Sleep, Remember, Exquisite

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• 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

  Running, Believe, Writing

  Desiderius Erasmus (1965). “The Colloquies of Erasmus”, Chicago, 1965- .

  18 Copy quote

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

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Men, Criticism, Pedants

  45 Copy quote

• Eagles don't catch flies.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Strength, Eagles

  21 Copy quote

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

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Men, Riches, Poverty

  17 Copy quote

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

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Doe, Pay, Intellect

  "Due Reverence: Antiques in the Possession of the American Philosophical Society". Book by Murphy D. Smith (p. 3), 1992.

  23 Copy quote

• I am a citizen of the world, known to all and to all a stranger.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Citizens, World, Stranger

  "Erasmus". Book by Gyorgy Faludy, 1970.

  20 Copy quote

• Bidden or unbidden, God is present.

  Desiderius Erasmus

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• Prevention is better than cure.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Health, Prevention, Lifestyle

  Desiderius Erasmus, William Watson Barker (2001). “The Adages of Erasmus”, p.17, University of Toronto Press

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• 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

  Men, Lasts, Miserable

  Desiderius Erasmus (2012). “In Praise of Folly”, p.27, Courier Corporation

  27 Copy quote

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

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Names, Legacy, Paganism

  35 Copy quote

• 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

  Knowledge, Delay, Height

  Desiderius Erasmus (1974). “The Correspondence of Erasmus: Letters 1 to 141, 1484-1500”, p.114, University of Toronto Press

  14 Copy quote

• Luther was guilty of two great crimes - he struck the Pope in his crown, and the monks in their belly.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Two, Crowns, Guilty

  44 Copy quote

• 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

  Ears, Mouths, Speak

  34 Copy quote

• The desire to write grows with writing.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Writing, Desire, Great Writing

  12 Copy quote

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

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Book, Men, Mind

  28 Copy quote

• Only a very few can be learned, but all can be Christian, all can be devout, and – I shall boldly add – all can be theologians.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Christian, Add, Theologian

  Desiderius Erasmus, Beatus Rhenanus, John C. Olin (1987). “Christian Humanism and the Reformation: Selected Writings of Erasmus, with His Life by Beatus Rhenanus and a Biographical Sketch by the Editor”, p.104, Fordham Univ Press

  8 Copy quote

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

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Honor, Enthusiasm, Sin

  17 Copy quote

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

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Laughter, Argument

  13 Copy quote

• 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

  War, Mean, Exercise

  Desiderius Erasmus, William Watson Barker (2001). “The Adages of Erasmus”, p.350, University of Toronto Press

  36 Copy quote

• 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 round like an effigy for the public to stare at, and end up cast in bronze to stand in the market place.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Winning, Men, Self

  Desiderius Erasmus (1986). “Literary and Educational Writings: Panegyricus and Philippum Austriaeducem. Moriae encomium. Dialogus Julius exclusus e coelis. Institutio principis christiani. Querela pacis”

  36 Copy quote

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

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Peace, Military, War

  "Adagia". Book by Desiderius Erasmus, 1500.

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