Portrait of Erasmus

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
Wisdom Unverifiable

He who is everywhere is nowhere.

1500 — Adagia
Wisdom 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)
Wisdom Unverifiable

The whole world is a stage.

1500 — Adagia
Wisdom Unverifiable

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

1500 — Adagia
Power & Leadership Confirmed

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

Unknown — Unknown, widely attributed
Wisdom Unverifiable

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

1500 — Adagia
Wisdom 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
Nature & World 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.
Biblical 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
Love & Relationships Unverifiable

It is not every question that deserves an answer.

1500 — Adagia
Wisdom Unverifiable

The dice are thrown.

1500 — Adagia, referring to a decision being irreversible.
Wisdom Unverifiable

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

Unknown — Unknown, widely attributed
Educational Unverifiable

Better to be silent than to speak ill.

1500 — Adagia
Wisdom Unverifiable

The beginning of health is to know the disease.

1500 — Adagia
Wisdom Unverifiable

I am a citizen of the world.

1518 — Letter to Paul Volz
Wisdom Unverifiable

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

1518 — Colloquies
Educational Unverifiable

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

Unknown — Unknown, widely attributed
Wisdom Unverifiable

The greatest wealth is health.

1500 — Adagia
Money & Business Unverifiable

To be learned is not to be wise.

1511 — Praise of Folly
Educational Unverifiable
Your Cart

Your cart is empty