Quotation
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“In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.”
Erasmus · Christian humanism · Renaissance · early 16th century collection
What does it mean?
Among people who cannot see, a little sight becomes sovereignty, and the usual reading takes the proverb as a comment on relative advantage that can either praise a modest skill or warn that poor company crowns it. A rival reading hears only the praise, and misses the insult to the room that does the crowning. Erasmus included the saying in the Adagia, the huge collection of Greek and Latin proverbs he explained for humanist readers. He made the Latin form famous as a transmitter, and he is not the inventor of the thought unless one is quoting his own note.
Did Erasmus really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Erasmus included this proverb in the Adagia. He is the transmitter who made the Latin form famous, not the inventor of the thought. Quote him as a collector unless a sentence of his own commentary is being used. The English is a translation of a collected saying.
Where it comes from
Adagia
Approximate date: early 16th century collection.
How to use it
In a residents' meeting in a Woolwich tower block, the person who once read the lease is treated as the authority on damp, the lift, and the service charge together. A small lead gets crowned, which is the proverb's warning rather than its compliment. The practical reply is to fetch the document, or another reader, so that the meeting is not governed by whoever happens to be slightly less in the dark.
A mindset reading
A proverb in a scholar's collection is a tool he found, not automatically his thesis, and quoting it as Erasmus's doctrine skips both the editorial labour and the irony of his notes. Relative advantage is not the same thing as competence. The line can flatter a monopoly of the slightly informed, which is a use he would have recognised and not necessarily blessed.
Understand the philosophy
The Adagia are Renaissance humanism as the labour of editing: sayings cleaned, sourced, and surrounded with commentary. The key term is adage, a proverb with a history, not a fresh maxim coined for a title page. Erasmus's originality is often in the note around the proverb rather than in the proverb itself. This one should be quoted as a collected saying unless a sentence of his commentary is actually in view.
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FAQ
What does it mean?
Among people who cannot see, a little sight becomes sovereignty, and the usual reading takes the proverb as a comment on relative advantage that can either praise a modest skill or warn that poor company crowns it. A rival reading hears only the praise, and misses the insult to the room that does the crowning. Erasmus included the saying in the Adagia, the huge collection of Greek and Latin proverbs he explained for humanist readers. He made the Latin form famous as a transmitter, and he is not the inventor of the thought unless one is quoting his own note.
Did Erasmus really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Erasmus included this proverb in the Adagia. He is the transmitter who made the Latin form famous, not the inventor of the thought. Quote him as a collector unless a sentence of his own commentary is being used. The English is a translation of a collected saying.
Which work is it in?
Adagia Approximate date: early 16th century collection.