Erasmus

Humanist scholar

Early Modern influential 124 sayings

Sayings by Erasmus

There are many things in life that are not worth having, but there is nothing that is not worth doing.

Unknown — Unknown, widely attributed
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

He who is everywhere is nowhere.

1500 — Adagia
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

A man who desires to be good must first be a man of good will.

1503 — Enchiridion Militis Christiani (Handbook of a Christian Knight)
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The whole world is a stage.

1500 — Adagia
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

1500 — Adagia
Strange & Unusual Confirmed

The greatest pleasure in life is to do what people say you cannot do.

Unknown — Unknown, widely attributed
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

To err is human, to persist in error is diabolical.

1500 — Adagia
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

Nature has given to men one tongue, but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.

1500 — Adagia
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Incorrect Attribution — Often attributed to him, but originally from Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The heart of man is a little world, where all the good and evil of the universe are to be found.

Unknown — Unknown, widely attributed
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

It is not every question that deserves an answer.

1500 — Adagia
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The dice are thrown.

1500 — Adagia, referring to a decision being irreversible.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

He who learns from everyone is a wise man; he who learns from no one is a fool.

Unknown — Unknown, widely attributed
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

Better to be silent than to speak ill.

1500 — Adagia
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The beginning of health is to know the disease.

1500 — Adagia
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I am a citizen of the world.

1518 — Letter to Paul Volz
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The greatest obstacle to knowledge is the belief that one already knows.

1518 — Colloquies
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.

Unknown — Unknown, widely attributed
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The greatest wealth is health.

1500 — Adagia
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

To be learned is not to be wise.

1511 — Praise of Folly
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable