1466-1536, Dutch Humanist
A nail is driven out by another nail. Habit is overcome by habit.
Desiderius Erasmus – [Habit]
Amongst the learned the lawyers claim first place, the most self-satisfied class of people, as they roll their rock of Sisyphus and string together six hundred laws in the same breath, no matter whether relevant or not, piling up opinion on opinion and gloss on gloss to make their profession seem the most difficult of all. Anything which causes trouble has special merit in their eyes.
Desiderius Erasmus – [Law and Lawyers]
As an example of just how useless these philosophers are for any practice in life there is Socrates himself, the one and only wise man, according to the Delphic Oracle. Whenever he tried to do anything in public he had to break off amid general laughter. While he was philosophizing about clouds and ideas, measuring a flea's foot and marveling at a midge's humming, he learned nothing about the affairs of ordinary life.
Desiderius Erasmus – [Philosophers and Philosophy]
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 – [Intelligence and Intellectuals]
By a Carpenter mankind was made, and only by that Carpenter can mankind be remade.
Desiderius Erasmus – [Jesus Christ]
Concealed talent brings no reputation.
Desiderius Erasmus – [Talent]
Everybody hates a prodigy, detests an old head on young shoulders.
Desiderius Erasmus – [Genius]
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?
Desiderius Erasmus – [Babies]
Fools are without number.
Desiderius Erasmus – [Fools and Foolishness]
For them it's out-of-date and outmoded to perform miracles; teaching the people is too like hard work, interpreting the holy scriptures is for schoolmen and praying is a waste of time;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 – [Pope]
Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.
Desiderius Erasmus – [Light]
Great abundance of riches cannot be gathered and kept by any man without sin.
Desiderius Erasmus – [Wealth]
Great eagerness in the pursuit of wealth, pleasure, or honor, cannot exist without sin.
Desiderius Erasmus – [Enthusiasm]
Heaven grant that the burden you carry may have as easy an exit as it had an entrance. [Prayer To A Pregnant Woman]
Desiderius Erasmus – [Prayer]
I doubt if a single individual could be found from the whole of mankind free from some form of insanity. The only difference is one of degree. A man who sees a gourd and takes it for his wife is called insane because this happens to very few people.
Desiderius Erasmus – [Insanity]
If you look at history you'll find that no state has been so plagued by its rulers as when power has fallen into the hands of some dabbler in philosophy or literary addict.
Desiderius Erasmus – [Literature]
In short, no association or alliance can be happy or stable without me. People can't long tolerate a ruler, nor can a master his servant, a maid her mistress, a teacher his pupil, a friend his friend nor a wife her husband, a landlord his tenant, a soldier his comrade nor a party-goer his companion, unless they sometimes have illusions about each other, make use of flattery, and have the sense to turn a blind eye and sweeten life for themselves with the honey of folly.
Desiderius Erasmus – [Fools and Foolishness]
It is the chiefest point of happiness that a man is willing to be what he is.
Desiderius Erasmus – [Happiness]
It is wisdom in prosperity, when all is as thou wouldn't have it, to fear and suspect the worst.
Desiderius Erasmus – [Pessimism]
It's the generally accepted privilege of theologians to stretch the heavens, that is the Scriptures, like tanners with a hide.
Desiderius Erasmus – [Theology]