“I speak it to our shame; the cause no grand
Poets adorn our country, is the small
Encouragement to such: for how can he
esteem, that understands not poetry?”

—  Luís de Camões

Sem vergonha o não digo, que a razão
De algum não ser por versos excelente,
É não se ver prezado o verso e rima,
Porque quem não sabe arte, não na estima.
Stanza 97, lines 5–8 (tr. Richard Fanshawe)
Epic poetry, Os Lusíadas (1572), Canto V

Original

Sem vergonha o não digo, que a razão De algum não ser por versos excelente, É não se ver prezado o verso e rima, Porque quem não sabe arte, não na estima.

Epic poetry, Os Lusíadas (1572), Canto V

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Luís de Camões 69
Portuguese poet 1524–1580

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