“As when you melons in the market buy.
You’ll cut a hundred, and, amongst the pile,
’Tis hard if you two good ones shall espy.
So, in our day, of all the tongues we deem,
From outward showing, free from every guile,
But two per cent, are really what they seem.”

— Pietro Nelli

Satire, II., IX. — ""A Benedetto Barbarigo.""
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 277.

Original

II, IX, A Benedetto Barbarigo
Satire
Variant: Come a comprar in piazza il poponi,
Ne tagliarete cento e fra cotanti
A pena due ne treverete bueni,
Così hoggidì, fra lingue tante e tante
Che fanno bel veder di fuora via
Due per cento rispendene al sembiante.
Source: Citato in Harbottle, p. 277.

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

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Pietro Nelli 5

Italian painter 1672–1740

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