Quotes by Erasmus, Desiderius

Prevention is better than cure. >>

Picture the prince, such as most of them are today: a man ignorant of >>

A nail is driven out by another nail. Habit is overcome by habit. >>

Quotations about Scholars and Scholarship

I am not able to instruct you. I can only tell that I have chosen wron >>

I cannot forgive a scholar his homeless despondency. >>

The office of the scholar is to cheer, to raise, and to guide men by s >>

People who use their erudition to write for a learned minority... don't seem to me favored by fortune but rather to be pitied for their continuous self-torture. They add, change, remove, lay aside, take up, rephrase, show to their friends, keep for nine years and are never satisfied. And their futile reward, a word of praise from a handful of people, they win at such a cost -- so many late nights, such loss of sleep, sweetest of all things, and so much sweat and anguish... their health deteriorates, their looks are destroyed, they suffer partial or total blindness, poverty, ill-will, denial of pleasure, premature old age and early death.

Erasmus, Desiderius