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

It is the chiefest point of happiness that a man is willing to be what he is.
Desiderius Erasmus

It is wisdom in prosperity, when all is as thou wouldn't have it, to fear and suspect the worst.
Desiderius Erasmus

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

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

Man is to man either a god or a wolf.
Desiderius Erasmus

Man's mind is so formed that it is far more susceptible to falsehood than to truth.
Desiderius Erasmus

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.
Desiderius Erasmus

No one respects a talent that is concealed.
Desiderius Erasmus

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

Now I believe I can hear the philosophers protesting that it can only be misery to live in folly, illusion, deception and ignorance, but it isn't -it's human.
Desiderius Erasmus

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

Prevention is better than cure.
Desiderius Erasmus

Reflection is a flower of the mind, giving out wholesome fragrance; but revelry is the same flower, when rank and running to seed.
Desiderius Erasmus

The desire to write grows with writing.
Desiderius Erasmus

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

The more ignorant, reckless and thoughtless a doctor is, the higher his reputation soars even amongst powerful princes.
Desiderius Erasmus

The most disadvantageous peace is better than the most just war.
Desiderius Erasmus

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

There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.
Desiderius Erasmus