Quotes by Desiderius Erasmus

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

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

“Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.””

“‎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.””

“For anyone who loves intensely lives not in himself but in the object of his love, and the further he can move out of himself into his love, the happier he is.””

“The most disadvantageous peace is better than the most just war.””

“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.””

“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?””

“Just as nothing is more foolish than misplaced wisdom, so too, nothing is more imprudent than perverse prudence. And surely it is perverse not to adapt yourself to the prevailing circumstances, to refuse 'to do as the Romans do,' to ignore the party-goer's maxium 'take a drink or take your leave,' to insist that the play should not be a play. True prudence, on the other hand, recognizes human limitations and does not strive to leap beyond them; it is willing to run with the herd, to overlook faults tolerantly or to share them in a friendly spirit. But, they say, that is exactly what we mean by folly. (I will hardly deny it -- as long as they will reciprocate by admitting that this is exactly what is means to perform the play of life.)””

“Everybody hates a prodigy, detests an old head on young shoulders.””

“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.””