Desiderius Erasmus
30 quotes
Biography
"When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes."
"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."
"If you keep thinking about what you want to do or what you hope will happen, you don't do it, and it won't happen."
"The desire to write grows with writing."
"In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king."
"The summit of happiness is reached when a person is ready to be what he is."
"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."
"Bidden or unbidden, God is present."
"Before you sleep, read something that is exquisite, and worth remembering."
"The fox has many tricks. The hedgehog has but one. But that is the best of all."
"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."
"Everyone knows that by far the happiest and universally enjoyable age of man is the first. What is there about babies which makes us hug and kiss and fondle them, so that even an enemy would give them help at that age?"
"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."
"When I get a little money I buy books and if any is left I buy food and clothes."
"Your library is your paradise."
"It is wisdom in prosperity, when all is as thou wouldn't have it, to fear and suspect the worst."
"When I get a little money I buy books and if any is left I buy food and clothes."
"To know nothing is the happiest life."
"Nothing is as peevish and pedantic as men's judgments of one another."
"Time takes away the grief of men."
"When I get a little money I buy books and if any is left I buy food and clothes."
"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."
"Nature, more of a stepmother than a mother in several ways, has sown a seed of evil in the hearts of mortals, especially in the more thoughtful men, which makes them dissatisfied with their own lot and envious of another s."
"Time takes away the grief of men."
"Man's mind is so formed that it is far more susceptible to falsehood than to truth."