WIST Quotations

Petrarch -- (Attributed)

Dave — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 23:50:58 +0000

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.

Francesco Petrarca (1304–1374) Italian scholar and poet [a.k.a. Petrarch]
(Attributed)
(Source)

Quoted in Johann Georg Ritter von Zimmermann, An Examination of the Advantages of Solitude and of Its Operations, ch. 5 (1783) [tr. F.S. (1808)].

Petrarch -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 19:23:53 +0000

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.

Francesco Petrarca (1304–1374) Italian scholar and poet [a.k.a. Petrarch]
(Attributed)
(Source)

Quoted in In Henry T. Tuckerman, "Petrarch," The American Whig Review (May 1845). The first word is sometimes quoted as "charity".

Petrarch -- Remedies for Fortune Fair and Foul [De Remediis Utriusque Fortunae] [tr. Elton (1893)]

Dave — Fri, 25 Aug 2017 03:39:06 +0000

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

Francesco Petrarca (1304–1374) Italian scholar and poet [a.k.a. Petrarch]
Remedies for Fortune Fair and Foul [De Remediis Utriusque Fortunae] [tr. Elton (1893)]

Other translations: "Books have brought some men to knowledge, and some to madness. whilst they drew out of them more than they could digest." [tr. Dobson (1791)]

Other translations: "Books have led some to knowledge and some to madness, who drew from them more than they could hold." [tr. Rawski (1991)]