Man has not a greater enemy than himself.
PETRARCHMan has not a greater enemy than himself.
PETRARCHRuthless striving, overcomes everything.
PETRARCHDo you suppose there is any living man so unreasonable that if he found himself stricken with a dangerous ailment he would not anxiously desire to regain the blessing of health?
PETRARCHAnd 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.
PETRARCHContinued work and application form my soul’s nourishment. So soon as I commenced to rest and relax I should cease to live.
PETRARCHFor death betimes is comfort, not dismay, and who can rightly die needs no delay.
PETRARCHHow fortune brings to earth the over-sure!
PETRARCHHitherto your eyes have been darkened and you have looked too much, yes, far too much, upon the things of earth. If these so much delight you what shall be your rapture when you lift your gaze to things eternal!
PETRARCHOften on earth the gentlest heart is fain To feed and banquet on another’s woe.
PETRARCHReality is always the foe of famous names.
PETRARCHHope is incredible to the slave of grief.
PETRARCHI 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.
PETRARCHWhen the poet died his cat was put to death and mummified.
PETRARCHThe aged love what is practical while impetuous youth longs only for what is dazzling.
PETRARCHYou keep to your own ways and leave mine to me.
PETRARCHI rejoiced in my progress, mourned my weaknesses, and commiserated the universal instability of human conduct.
PETRARCH