October 02, 2026

Make Peace With Yourself

Self-love is not quite so abominable a thing when you don't carry it too far.

Erasmus wrote In Praise of Folly in 1509 while staying at Thomas More's house in London, dashing it off as a playful oration spoken in the voice of the goddess Folly herself. In this passage, Folly defends self-love as a necessary ingredient of happiness, insisting that without some measure of it, no one could ever be satisfied with their own talents, family, or country. Erasmus spent much of his life chasing patrons and stability he never fully found, so he knew firsthand how discontent can poison whatever good a person already has. His point still lands today: real gratitude cannot grow until you first make peace with who you are and what is already yours.