“A constant element of enjoyment must be mingled with our studies, so that we think of learning as a game rather than a form of drudgery, for no activity can be continued for long if it does not to some extent afford pleasure to the participant.”

Letter to Christian Northoff (1497), as translated in Collected Works of Erasmus (1974), p. 114

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Desiderius Erasmus 36
Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, and theologian 1466–1536

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