Dutch writer Erasmus gave voice to Folly in his wonderful essay ‘In Praise of Folly’. We chose a passage that felt especially touching.
“Let us turn to the arts. What else has fired men’s natural talents to devise and hand on to posterity so many disciplines which they think remarkable if not their thirst for fame? With all their toil and sweat and sleepless nights men have thought to gain some sort of reputation, emptiest of aquisitions, and thereby showed themselves complete fools. Meanwhile, it’s Folly to whom you owe so many of life’s major blessings, and the nicest thing of all is that you have someone else’s madness to thank for your enjoyment.”
From ‘In Praise of Folly‘
by Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (1509)
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