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Jul. 16th, 2025 | 01:58 pm
/On a folly of a civilisation built on mass consumerism and entertainment./
... Or to what purpose is it I should mind you of our professors of arts? Forasmuch as this self-
love is so natural to them all that they had rather part with their father’s land than their foolish
opinions; but chiefly players, fiddlers, orators, and poets, of which the more ignorant each of
them is, the more insolently he pleases himself, that is to say vaunts and spreads out his
plumes. And like lips find like lettuce; nay, the more foolish anything is, the more ‘tis
admired, the greater number being ever tickled at the worst things, because, as I said before,
most men are so subject to folly. And therefore if the more foolish a man is, the more he
pleases himself and is admired by others, to what purpose should he beat his brains about true
knowledge, which first will cost him dear, and next render him the more troublesome and less
confident, and lastly, please only a few?
Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam
"In Praise of Folly"
1509
... Or to what purpose is it I should mind you of our professors of arts? Forasmuch as this self-
love is so natural to them all that they had rather part with their father’s land than their foolish
opinions; but chiefly players, fiddlers, orators, and poets, of which the more ignorant each of
them is, the more insolently he pleases himself, that is to say vaunts and spreads out his
plumes. And like lips find like lettuce; nay, the more foolish anything is, the more ‘tis
admired, the greater number being ever tickled at the worst things, because, as I said before,
most men are so subject to folly. And therefore if the more foolish a man is, the more he
pleases himself and is admired by others, to what purpose should he beat his brains about true
knowledge, which first will cost him dear, and next render him the more troublesome and less
confident, and lastly, please only a few?
Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam
"In Praise of Folly"
1509