“Rarely do great beauty and great virtue dwell together.”
De remediis utriusque fortunae (1354), Book II
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Il Canzoniere
Francesco PetrarcaDe vita solitaria
Francesco PetrarcaDe remediis utriusque fortunae
Francesco Petrarca
Francesco Petrarca:
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Famous Francesco Petrarca Quotes
“Man has no greater enemy than himself.”
I have acted contrary to my sentiments and inclination; throughout our whole lives we do what we never intended, and what we proposed to do, we leave undone.
As quoted in An Examination of the Advantages of Solitude and of Its Operations (1808) by Johann Georg Ritter von Zimmermann
As quoted in "Lifetime Speaker's Encyclopedia" (1962) by Jacob Morton Braude, p. 75
Canzon, s'uom trovi in suo amor viver queto,
di': Muor' mentre se' lieto,
ché morte al tempo è non duol, ma refugio;
et chi ben pò morir, non cerchi indugio.
Canzone 331, st. 6 ( tr. A. S. Kline http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/canzoniere.html?poem=331)
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Death
Letter to Giovanni Boccaccio (28 April 1373) as quoted in Petrarch : The First Modern Scholar and Man of Letters (1898) edited by James Harvey Robinson and Henry Winchester Rolfe, p. 418
Context: You, my friend, by a strange confusion of arguments, try to dissuade me from continuing my chosen work by urging, on the one hand, the hopelessness of bringing my task to completion, and by dwelling, on the other, upon the glory which I have already acquired. Then, after asserting that I have filled the world with my writings, you ask me if I expect to equal the number of volumes written by Origen or Augustine. No one, it seems to me, can hope to equal Augustine. Who, nowadays, could hope to equal one who, in my judgment, was the greatest in an age fertile in great minds? As for Origen, you know that I am wont to value quality rather than quantity, and I should prefer to have produced a very few irreproachable works rather than numberless volumes such as those of Origen, which are filled with grave and intolerable errors.
Francesco Petrarca Quotes about love
Canzone 280, st. 3–4
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Death
L'alta beltà ch'al mondo non à pare
noia t'è, se non quanto il bel thesoro
di castità par ch'ella adorni et fregi.
Canzone 263, st. 4
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
“The proverb "Love him who loves you" is an ancient fact.”
Proverbio "ama chi t'ama" è fatto antico.
Canzone 105, st. 3
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
As quoted in Notable Thoughts About Women : A Literary Mosaic (1882) by Maturin Murray Ballou, p. 311
Francesco Petrarca Quotes about life
Il sonno è veramente, qual uom dice,
parente de la morte, e 'l cor sottragge
a quel dolce penser che 'n vita il tene.
Canzone 226, st. 3
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
“Life flees and does not stop an hour.”
La vita fugge, et non s'arresta una hora.
Canzone 272, line 1
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Death
“A good death does honor to a whole life.”
Un bel morir tutta la vita honora.
Canzone 207 (c. 1348), st. 5
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
Perché la vita è breve,
et l'ingegno paventa a l'alta impresa,
né di lui né di lei molto mi fido.
Canzone 71, st. 1
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
Co la morte a lato
cerco del viver mio novo consiglio,
et veggio 'l meglio, et al peggior m'appiglio.
Canzone 264, st. 8
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Death
Questa vita terrena è quasi un prato,
che 'l serpente tra' fiori et l'erba giace;
et s'alcuna sua vista agli occhi piace,
è per lassar piú l'animo invescato.
Canzone 99, st. 2
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
Francesco Petrarca: Trending quotes
Letter to Giovanni Boccaccio (28 April 1373) as quoted in Petrarch : The First Modern Scholar and Man of Letters (1898) edited by James Harvey Robinson and Henry Winchester Rolfe, p. 426
Context: Continued work and application form my soul's nourishment. So soon as I commenced to rest and relax I should cease to live. I know my own powers. I am not fitted for other kinds of work, but my reading and writing, which you would have me discontinue, are easy tasks, nay, they are a delightful rest, and relieve the burden of heavier anxieties. There is no lighter burden, nor more agreeable, than a pen. Other pleasures fail us or wound us while they charm, but the pen we take up rejoicing and lay down with satisfaction, for it has the power to advantage not only its lord and master, but many others as well, even though they be far away — sometimes, indeed, though they be not born for thousands of years to come. I believe I speak but the strict truth when I claim that as there is none among earthly delights more noble than literature, so there is none so lasting, none gentler, or more faithful; there is none which accompanies its possessor through the vicissitudes of life at so small a cost of effort or anxiety.
Letter to Dionigi di Borgo San Sepolcro (26 April 1336), as translated by James Harvey Robinson (1898)
Context: I rejoiced in my progress, mourned my weaknesses, and commiserated the universal instability of human conduct. I had well-nigh forgotten where I was and our object in coming; but at last I dismissed my anxieties, which were better suited to other surroundings, and resolved to look about me and see what we had come to see. The sinking sun and the lengthening shadows of the mountain were already warning us that the time was near at hand when we must go. As if suddenly wakened from sleep, I turned about and gazed toward the west. I was unable to discern the summits of the Pyrenees, which form the barrier between France and Spain; not because of any intervening obstacle that I know of but owing simply to the insufficiency of our mortal vision.
Letter to Giovanni Boccaccio (28 April 1373) as quoted in Petrarch : The First Modern Scholar and Man of Letters (1898) edited by James Harvey Robinson and Henry Winchester Rolfe, p. 426
Context: Continued work and application form my soul's nourishment. So soon as I commenced to rest and relax I should cease to live. I know my own powers. I am not fitted for other kinds of work, but my reading and writing, which you would have me discontinue, are easy tasks, nay, they are a delightful rest, and relieve the burden of heavier anxieties. There is no lighter burden, nor more agreeable, than a pen. Other pleasures fail us or wound us while they charm, but the pen we take up rejoicing and lay down with satisfaction, for it has the power to advantage not only its lord and master, but many others as well, even though they be far away — sometimes, indeed, though they be not born for thousands of years to come. I believe I speak but the strict truth when I claim that as there is none among earthly delights more noble than literature, so there is none so lasting, none gentler, or more faithful; there is none which accompanies its possessor through the vicissitudes of life at so small a cost of effort or anxiety.
Francesco Petrarca Quotes
Letter to Dionigi di Borgo San Sepolcro (26 April 1336), as translated by James Harvey Robinson (1898)
Context: My brother, waiting to hear something of St. Augustine's from my lips, stood attentively by. I call him, and God too, to witness that where I first fixed my eyes it was written: "And men go about to wonder at the heights of the mountains, and the mighty waves of the sea, and the wide sweep of rivers, and the circuit of the ocean, and the revolution of the stars, but themselves they consider not." I was abashed, and, asking my brother (who was anxious to hear more), not to annoy me, I closed the book, angry with myself that I should still be admiring earthly things who might long ago have learned from even the pagan philosophers that nothing is wonderful but the soul, which, when great itself, finds nothing great outside itself. Then, in truth, I was satisfied that I had seen enough of the mountain; I turned my inward eye upon myself, and from that time not a syllable fell from my lips until we reached the bottom again. Those words had given me occupation enough, for I could not believe that it was by a mere accident that I happened upon them. What I had there read I believed to be addressed to me and to no other, remembering that St. Augustine had once suspected the same thing in his own case, when, on opening the book of the Apostle, as he himself tells us, the first words that he saw there were, "Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."
Secretum Meum (1342), as translated in Petrarch's Secret : or, The Soul's Conflict with Passion : Three Dialogues Between Himself and St. Augustine (1911) edited by William Henry Draper
Letter to Dionigi di Borgo San Sepolcro (26 April 1336), "The Ascent of Mount Ventoux" in Familiar Letters http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/read_letters.html?s=pet17.html as translated by James Harvey Robinson (1898); the name Mount Ventosum relates to it being a windy mountain.
Context: To-day I made the ascent of the highest mountain in this region, which is not improperly called Ventosum. My only motive was the wish to see what so great an elevation had to offer. I have had the expedition in mind for many years; for, as you know, I have lived in this region from infancy, having been cast here by that fate which determines the affairs of men. Consequently the mountain, which is visible from a great distance, was ever before my eyes, and I conceived the plan of some time doing what I have at last accomplished to-day.
Letter to Giovanni Boccaccio (28 April 1373) as quoted in Petrarch : The First Modern Scholar and Man of Letters (1898) edited by James Harvey Robinson and Henry Winchester Rolfe, p. 417
Context: I certainly will not reject the praise you bestow upon me for having stimulated in many instances, not only in Italy but perhaps beyond its confines also, the pursuit of studies such as ours, which have suffered neglect for so many centuries; I am, indeed, almost the oldest of those among us who are engaged in the cultivation of these subjects. But I cannot accept the conclusion you draw from this, namely, that I should give place to younger minds, and, interrupting the plan of work on which I am engaged, give others an opportunity to write something, if they will, and not seem longer to desire to reserve everything for my own pen. How radically do our opinions differ, although, at bottom, our object is the same! I seem to you to have written everything, or at least a great deal, while to myself I appear to have produced almost nothing.
Letter to Giovanni Boccaccio (28 April 1373) as quoted in Petrarch : The First Modern Scholar and Man of Letters (1898) edited by James Harvey Robinson and Henry Winchester Rolfe, p. 417
Context: I certainly will not reject the praise you bestow upon me for having stimulated in many instances, not only in Italy but perhaps beyond its confines also, the pursuit of studies such as ours, which have suffered neglect for so many centuries; I am, indeed, almost the oldest of those among us who are engaged in the cultivation of these subjects. But I cannot accept the conclusion you draw from this, namely, that I should give place to younger minds, and, interrupting the plan of work on which I am engaged, give others an opportunity to write something, if they will, and not seem longer to desire to reserve everything for my own pen. How radically do our opinions differ, although, at bottom, our object is the same! I seem to you to have written everything, or at least a great deal, while to myself I appear to have produced almost nothing.
Source: Petrarch: The Canzoniere, or Rerum Vulgarium Fragmenta
“Ché bel fin fa chi ben amando more.”
For he makes a good end who dies loving well.
Canzone 140, last line
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
Epistola ad Posteros [Letter to Posterity] in Petrarch : The First Modern Scholar and Man of Letters (1898) edited by James Harvey Robinson and Henry Winchester Rolfe, p. 59
“I shall be what I have been, shall live as I have lived.”
Sarò qual fui, vivrò com'io son visso.
Canzone 145, st. 4
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
“Ah new people, haughty beyond measure, irreverent to so great a mother!”
Canzone 53, st. 6
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
“Resembles herself and no other.”
Sol se stessa, et nulla altra, simiglia.
Canzone 160, line 4
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
“True is the proverb, one's hair will change before one's habits.”
Vero è 'l proverbio, ch'altri cangia il pelo
anzi che 'l vezzo.
Canzone 122, st. 2
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
“I am she who gave you so much war and completed my day before evening.”
I' so' colei che ti die' tanta guerra,
et compie' mia giornata inanzi sera.
Canzone 302, st. 2
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Death
Una chiusa bellezza è piú soave.
Canzone 105, st. 4
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
S'amor non è, che dunque è quel ch'io sento?
Ma s'egli è amor, perdio, che cosa et quale?
Se bona, onde l'effecto aspro mortale?
Se ria, onde sí dolce ogni tormento?
Canzone 132, st. 1
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
“To obey Nature in all is best.”
Obedir a Natura in tutto è il meglio.
Canzone 361, st. 2
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Death
De vita solitaria (1346) as quoted in Wisdom for the Soul: Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing (2006) by Larry Chang, p. 144
“For no human defense avails against Heaven.”
Canzone 270, st. 6
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Death
“Understand me who can, for I understand myself.”
Canzone 105, st. 2
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
“One goes many miles to be at ease.”
Per bene star si scende molte miglia.
Canzone 105, st. 4
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
“I am speaking to tell the truth, not from hatred or scorn of anyone.”
Io parlo per ver dire,
non per odio d'altrui, né per disprezzo.
Canzone 128, st. 4
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
“One falls in love through fame.”
Canzone 53, st. 8
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
“A thing seems a great marvel but then is despised.”
Tal par gran meraviglia, et poi si sprezza.
Canzone 105, st. 4
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
“And so on earth
our destiny is with us from our birth.”
Cosí nel mondo
sua ventura à ciascun dal dí che nasce.
Canzone 303, st. 4 (tr. Mark Musa)
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Death
“Cities are hateful to me, friendly the woods.”
Le città son nemiche, amici i boschi.
Canzone 237, st. 5
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
Non è sí duro cor che, lagrimando,
pregando, amando, talor non si smova,
né sí freddo voler, che non si scalde.
Canzone 265, st. 4
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Death
Pandolfo mio, quest'opere son frali
da ll lungo andar, ma 'l nostro studio è quello
dche fa per fama gli uomini immortali.
Canzone 104, st. 4
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
“Sameness is the mother of disgust, variety the cure.”
As quoted in The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Inspirational Quotes (2005) by Wendy Toliver. p. 446
“It is better to will the good than to know the truth.”
As quoted in The Renaissance : Essays in Interpretation (1982) by André Chastel , p 107
“Who overrefines his argument brings himself to grief.”
"Canzone 11 [c. 1327]", as reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (1968), p. 163
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
Voi ch'ascoltate in rime sparse il suono
di quei sospiri ond'io nudriva 'l core
in sul mio primo giovenile errore
quand'era in parte altr'uom da quel ch'i' sono.
Canzone 1, opening lines
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
“There is nothing in the world that cannot be done by verses.”
Nulla al mondo è che non possano i versi.
Canzone 239, st. 5
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
“Peace I do not find, and I have no wish to make war; and I fear and hope, and burn and am of ice.”
Pace non trovo, et non ò da far guerra;
e temo, et spero; et ardo, et son un ghiaccio.
Canzone 134, lines 1–2
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
“Oh how easy it is to deceive one who is confident!”
Canzone 311, st. 3
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Death
“For your lovely eyes, Lady, bound me.”
Ché i be' vostr'occhi, donna, mi legaro.
Canzone 3, line 4
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
Variant: [From] two lovely eyes that have bound me.
Beato in sogno et di languir contento,
d'abbracciar l'ombre et seguir l'aura estiva,
nuoto per mar che non à fondo o riva,
solco onde, e 'n rena fondo, et scrivo in vento.
Canzone 212, st. 1
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
“He knows that I am speaking the truth, for no worm ever gnawed old wood.”
Ei sa che 'l vero parlo:
ché legno vecchio mai non róse tarlo.
Canzone 360, st. 5
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Death
“To be able to say how much you love is to love but little.”
"Canzone 137", as reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (1968), p. 163
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
“The blond tresses loosened on her neck.”
Le bionde treccie sopra il collo sciolte.
Canzone 127, line 77
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
De vita solitaria (1346) as quoted in Madalyn Aslan's Jupiter Signs: How to Improve Your Luck, Career, Health, Finances, Appearance, and Relationships Through the New Astrology (2003) by Madalyn Aslan
“Nor do I care about the mob or about Fortune.”
Né del vulgo mi cal, né di Fortuna.
Canzone 114, st. 3
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
“Hannibal was victorious, but he did not know later how to make good use of his victorious fortune.”
Vinse Hanibàl, et non seppe usar poi
ben la vittoriosa sua ventura.
Canzone 103, lines 1–2
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
Ma pur sí aspre vie né sí selvagge
cercar non so ch'Amor non venga sempre
ragionando con meco, et io co llui.
Canzone 35, st. 4
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
Et del mio vaneggiar vergogna è 'l frutto,
e 'l pentersi, e 'l conoscer chiaramente
che quanto piace al mondo è breve sogno.
Canzone 1, st. 4
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
“The time to labor is while it is day.”
Tempo da travagliare è quanto è 'l giorno.
Canzone 22, line 3
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
“How fortune brings to earth the over-sure!”
As quoted in The International Thesaurus of Quotations (1970) by Rhoda Thomas Tripp
Voi dunque, se cercate aver la mente
anzi l'extremo dí queta già mai,
seguite i pochi, et non la volgar gente.
Canzone 99, st. 3
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
“Truly, we are dust and shadow; truly, desire is blind and greedy; truly, hope deceives.”
Veramente siam noi polvere et ombra,
veramente la voglia cieca e 'ngorda,
veramente fallace è la speranza.
Canzone 294, st. 4
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Death
“Full of a yearning thought that makes me stray away from all others.”
Pien d'un vago penser che me desvia
da tutti gli altri.
Canzone 169, lines 1–2
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Life
