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.”

“Everyone knows that by far the happiest and universally enjoyable age of man is the first. What is there about babies which makes us hug and kiss and fondle them, so that even an enemy would give them help at that age?”

“When I get a little money I buy books and if any is left I buy food and clothes.”

“Your library is your paradise.”

“War is delightful to those who have had no experience of it.”

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

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

“If you keep thinking about what you want to do or what you hope will happen, you don't do it, and it won't happen.”

“To know nothing is the happiest life.”

“Nothing is as peevish and pedantic as men's judgments of one another.”

“Time takes away the grief of men.”

“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.”

“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.”

“The most disadvantageous peace is better than the most just war.”

“Whether a party can have much success without a woman present I must ask others to decide, but one thing is certain, no party is any fun unless seasoned with folly.”

“Humility is truth.”

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

“War is sweet to those who have not experienced it.”

“Women, can't live with them, can't live without them.”