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

Love is the crowning grace of humanity, the holiest right of the soul, the golden link which binds us to duty and truth, the redeeming principle that chiefly reconciles the heart to life, and is prophetic of eternal good.

— Petrarch

Rarely do great beauty and great virtue dwell together.

— Petrarch

Love is the crowning grace of humanity, the holiest right of the soul, the golden link which binds us to duty and truth, the redeeming principle that chiefly reconciles the heart to life, and is prophetic of eternal good.

— Petrarch

Rarely do great beauty and great virtue dwell together.

— Petrarch

This age of ours consequently has let fall, bit by bit, some of the richest and sweetest fruits that the tree of knowledge has yielded; has thrown away the results of the vigils and labours of the most illustrious men of genius, things of more value, I am almost tempted to say, than anything else in the whole world.

— Petrarch

Hitherto 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! When I heard her thus speak, though my fear still clung about me, with trembling voice I made reply in Virgil's words —

— Petrarch

Rarely do great beauty and great virtue dwell together.

— Petrarch

Man has no greater enemy than himself. I have acted contrary to my sentiments and inclination; throughout our whole lives we do what we never intended, and what we proposed to do, we leave undone.

— Petrarch

Love is the crowning grace of humanity, the holiest right of the soul, the golden link which binds us to duty and truth, the redeeming principle that chiefly reconciles the heart to life, and is prophetic of eternal good.

— Petrarch

To begin with myself, then, the utterances of men concerning me will differ widely, since in passing judgment almost every one is influenced not so much by truth as by preference, and good and evil report alike know no bounds.

— Petrarch

Books have led some to learning and others to madness, when they swallow more than they can digest.

— Petrarch

How fortune brings to earth the over-sure!

— Petrarch

It is better to will the good than to know the truth.

— Petrarch

It is more honorable to be raised to a throne than to be born to one. Fortune bestows the one, merit obtains the other.

— Petrarch

Sameness is the mother of disgust, variety the cure.

— 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

Who overrefines his argument brings himself to grief.

— Petrarch

To be able to say how much you love is to love but little.

— Petrarch

Ché bel fin fa chi ben amando more.

— Petrarch

Do 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?

— Petrarch

Suspicion is the cancer of friendship.

— Petrarch