Desiderius Erasmus Quotes - Page 4

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• 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.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Choices, Chance, Should

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• Ask a wise man to dinner and he'll upset everyone by his gloomy silence or tiresome questions. Invite him to a dance and you'll have a camel prancing about. Haul him off to a public entertainment and his face will be enough to spoil the people's entertainment.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Wise, Intelligent, Men

  Desiderius Erasmus, Betty Radice (1990). “Praise of Folly”

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• Do not put chewed bones back on plates. Instead, throw them on the floor for the dog.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Dog, Culture, Bones

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• The nearer people approach old age the closer they return to a semblance of childhood, until the time comes for them to depart this life, again like children, neither tired of living nor aware of death.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Life, Death, Time

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

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• The entire world is my temple, and a very fine one too, if I'm not mistaken, and I'll never lack priests to serve it as long as there are men.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Men, Long, World

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

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• Concealed talent brings no reputation.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Reputation, Talent, Concealed

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• For them it's out-of-date and outmoded to perform miracles; teaching the people is too like hard work, interpreting the holy scriptures is for schoolmen and praying is a waste of time;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

  Kings, Teaching, Hard Work

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

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• Nowadays the rage for possession has got to such a pitch that there is nothing in the realm of nature, whether sacred or profane, out of which profit cannot be squeezed.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Sacred, Rage, Profit

  Desiderius Erasmus, Margaret Mann Phillips (1967). “Erasmus on His Times: A Shortened Version of the 'Adages' of Erasmus”, p.45, Cambridge University Press

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• Modern church music is so constructed that the congregation cannot hear one distinct word.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Church Music, Modern, Music Is

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• You'll see certain Pythagorean whose belief in communism of property goes to such lengths that they pick up anything lying about unguarded, and make off with it without a qualm of conscience as if it had come to them by law.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Lying, Law, Qualms About

  Desiderius Erasmus, Betty Radice (1990). “Praise of Folly”

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• The wedlocks of minds will be greater than that of bodies.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Mind, Body, Wedlock

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• [N]o party is any fun unless seasoned with folly.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Fun, Party, Folly

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

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• Whether a party can have much success without a woman present I must ask others to decide, but one thing is certain, no party is any fun unless seasoned with folly.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Fun, Party, Certain

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

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• This type of man who is devoted to the study of wisdom is always most unlucky in everything, and particularly when it comes to procreating children; I imagine this is because Nature wants to ensure that the evils of wisdom shall not spread further throughout mankind.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Education, Children, Learning

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

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• It's the generally accepted privilege of theologians to stretch the heavens, that is the Scriptures, like tanners with a hide.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Heaven, Atheism, Scripture

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

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• He who shuns the millstone, shuns the meal.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Work, Meals

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• Out of all those centuries the Greeks can count seven sages at the most, and if anyone looks at them more closely I swear he'll not find so much as a half-wise man or even a third of a wise man among them.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Wise, Men, Greek

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

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• Invoked or not invoked, the god is present.

  Desiderius Erasmus

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• Be careful not to be the first to put your hands in the dish. What you cannot hold in your hands you must put on your plate. Also it is a great breach of etiquette when your fingers are dirty and greasy, to bring them to your mouth in order to lick them, or to clean them on your jacket. It would be more decent to use the tablecloth.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Dirty, Food, Hands

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• So our student will flit like a busy bee through the entire garden of literature, light on every blossom, collect a little nectar from each, and carry it to his hive.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Garden, Light, Literature

  Desiderius Erasmus, William Watson Barker (2001). “The Adages of Erasmus”, p.33, University of Toronto Press

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• Scarcely is there any peace so unjust that it is better than even the fairest war. -Vix ulla tam iniqua pax, quin bello vel aequissimo sit potior

  Desiderius Erasmus

  War, Unjust

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• They may attack me with an army of six hundred syllogisms; and if I do not recant, they will proclaim me a heretic.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Army, May, Six

  Desiderius Erasmus (1959). “The Praise of Folly”

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• Providence has decreed that those common acquisitions, money, gems, plate, noble mansions, and dominion, should be sometimes bestowed on the indolent and unworthy; but those things which constitute our true riches, and which are properly our own, must be procured by our own labor.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Acquisition, Noble, Dominion

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• Human affairs are so obscure and various that nothing can be clearly known.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Affair, Obscure, Humans

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

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• God has administered to us of the present age, a bitter draught and a harsh physician, on account of our abounding infirmities.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Leadership, Courage, Physicians

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