Desiderius Erasmus
Dutch humanist scholar and theologian (1469 to 1536), born in Rotterdam; editor of the Greek New Testament and author of the Adages.
Desiderius Erasmus did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Our reading
The fellowship of learning binds people together more closely than marriage ties or kinship
Their wordsFor I dare boldly say, that neither affinity nor yet kindred doth bind the minds of men together with straiter and surer bands of amity, than doth the fellowship of them that be learned in good letters and honest studies.
↗Against War (Dulce bellum inexpertis; Tudor translation of 1533-4, ed. J. W. Mackail, 1907)gutenberg.org 1st of 6 in this piece
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Their wordsBut it seemeth to me far to pass all wild and all brute beastliness, to fight together with weapons.
↗Against War (Dulce bellum inexpertis; Tudor translation of 1533-4, ed. J. W. Mackail, 1907)gutenberg.org 2nd of 6 in this piece
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Their wordsBut unto man there is no wild or cruel beast more hurtful than man.
↗Against War (Dulce bellum inexpertis; Tudor translation of 1533-4, ed. J. W. Mackail, 1907)gutenberg.org 3rd of 6 in this piece
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Our reading
Peace is the mother of all good things, while war suddenly destroys everything pleasant and fair
Their wordsPeace is the mother and nurse of all good things. War suddenly and at once overthroweth, destroyeth, and utterly fordoeth everything that is pleasant and fair, and bringeth in among men a monster of all mischievous things.
↗Against War (Dulce bellum inexpertis; Tudor translation of 1533-4, ed. J. W. Mackail, 1907)gutenberg.org 4th of 6 in this piece
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Our reading
Weighing its gains against its harms shows that an unjust peace is far better than a righteous war
Their wordsNow if a man will weigh, as it were in a pair of balances, the commodities of war on the one side and the incommodities on the other side, he shall find that unjust peace is far better than righteous war.
↗Against War (Dulce bellum inexpertis; Tudor translation of 1533-4, ed. J. W. Mackail, 1907)gutenberg.org 5th of 6 in this piece
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Their wordsFor be the Turks never so wicked, yet they are men, for whose salvation Christ suffered death. And killing Turks we offer to the devil most pleasant sacrifice, and with that one deed we please our enemy, the devil, twice: first because a man is slain, and again, because a Christian man slew him.
↗Against War (Dulce bellum inexpertis; Tudor translation of 1533-4, ed. J. W. Mackail, 1907)gutenberg.org 6th of 6 in this piece
The line under a date fills as the words age, a quarter at a time: past a month, six months, a year, and three years. Empty means said within the last month; full, more than three years ago. It says when, not whether it still holds — a change of mind is marked on the claim itself.
Dashed means we only know the words existed by that date; they may be older.