On the importance of folly in worldly affairs
“Briefly, no society, no association of people in this world can be happy or last long without my help; no people would put up with their prince, no master endure his servant, no maid stand her mistress, no teacher his pupil, no friend his friend, no wife her husband, no landlord his tenant, no soldier his drinking buddy, no lodger his fellow-lodger—unless they were mistaken, both at the same time or turn and turn about, in each other. Now they flatter one another, now they wisely overlook failings, now they exchange blandishments, foolish but sweeter than honey.”
Erasmus, The Praise of Folly, 22
