How fortune brings to earth the over-sure!
PETRARCHIt is more honorable to be raised to a throne than to be born to one. Fortune bestows the one, merit obtains the other.
More Petrarch Quotes
-
-
The greater I am, the greater shall be my efforts.
PETRARCH -
What name to call thee by, O virgin fair, I know not, for thy looks are not of earth And more than mortal seems thy countenances.
PETRARCH -
It may be only glory that we seek here, but I persuade myself that, as long as we remain here, that is right. Another glory awaits us in heaven and he who reaches there will not wish even to think of earthly fame.
PETRARCH -
Events appear sad, pleasant, or painful, not because they are so in reality, but because we believe them to be so and the light in which we look at them depends upon our own judgment.
PETRARCH -
Five enemies of peace inhabit with us – avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride; if these were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace.
PETRARCH -
Nothing mortal is enduring, and there is nothing sweet which does not presently end in bitterness.
PETRARCH -
Books can warm the heart with friendly words and counsel, entering into a close relationship with us which is articulate and alive.
PETRARCH -
I know and love the good, yet, ah! the worst pursue.
PETRARCH -
All pleasure in the world is a passing dream.
PETRARCH -
Death is a sleep that ends our dreaming. Oh, that we may be allowed to wake before death wakes us.
PETRARCH -
I looked back at the summit of the mountain, which seemed but a cubit high in comparison with the height of human contemplation, were in not too often merged in the corruptions of the earth.
PETRARCH -
Love is the crowning grace of humanity.
PETRARCH -
I freeze and burn, love is bitter and sweet, my sighs are tempests and my tears are floods, I am in ecstasy and agony, I am possessed by memories of her and I am in exile from myself.
PETRARCH -
Often have I wondered with much curiosity as to our coming into this world and what will follow our departure.
PETRARCH -
A good death does honour to a whole life.
PETRARCH