Quotes from book
The Betrothed

Name: The Betrothed
Author: Alessandro Manzoni

Alessandro ManzoniOriginal title I promessi sposi (Italian, 1827)

The Betrothed is an Italian historical novel by Alessandro Manzoni, first published in 1827, in three volumes. It has been called the most famous and widely read novel in the Italian language.Set in northern Italy in 1628, during the oppressive years of direct Spanish rule, it is seen as a veiled attack on the Austrian Empire, which controlled the region at the time the novel was written . It is also noted for the extraordinary description of the plague that struck Milan around 1630.

“A lawyer must be told things frankly; then it's up to us to muddle them up.”

Alessandro Manzoni book The Betrothed

All'avvocato bisogna raccontar le cose chiare: a noi tocca poi a imbrogliarle.
Source: The Betrothed (1827; 1842), Ch. 3, p. 35

“It is one of the advantages of this world that people can hate and be hated without knowing each other.”

Alessandro Manzoni book The Betrothed

È uno de' vantaggi di questo mondo, quello di poter odiare ed esser odiati, senza conoscersi.
Source: The Betrothed (1827; 1842), Ch. 4, p. 44

“The general practice is for the secret to be confided only to an equally trustworthy friend, the same conditions being imposed on him. And so from trustworthy friend to trustworthy friend the secret goes moving on round that immense chain, until finally it reaches the ears of just the very person or persons whom the first talker had expressly intended it never should reach.”

Alessandro Manzoni book The Betrothed

Ma la pratica generale ha volato che ella obblighi soltanto a non confidare il segreto che ad un amico egualmente fidato, e imponendogli la condizione medesima. Cosi d'amico fidato in amico fidato, il segreto gira e gira per quella immensa catena, tanto che giunge all' orecchio di colui o di coloro a cui il primo che ha parlato intendeva appunto di non lasciarlo giunger mai.
Source: The Betrothed (1827; 1842), Ch. 11, p. 155

“But what is history, Don Ferrante would often say, without politics? A guide who walks on and on with no one following to learn the road, so that his every step is wasted; just as politics without history is like a man who walks along without a guide.”

Alessandro Manzoni book The Betrothed

Ma cos'è mai la storia, diceva spesso don Ferrante, senza la politica? Una guida che cammina, cammina, con nessuno dietro che impari la strada, e per conseguenza butta via i suoi passi; come la politica senza la storia è uno che cammina senza guida.
Variant translation:
"But," said he often, "what is history without politics? a guide who conducts without teaching any one the way; as politics without history, is a man without a guide to conduct him."
Richard Bentley translation (1834)
Source: The Betrothed (1827; 1842), Ch. 27, p. 374