"S'amor non è, che dunque è quel ch'io sento? Ma s'egli è amor, perdio, che cosa et quale? Se bona, onde l'effecto aspro mortale? Se ria, onde sí dolce ogni tormento?"

"Io parlo per ver dire, non per odio d'altrui, né per disprezzo."

"Le bionde treccie sopra il collo sciolte."

"Vero è 'l proverbio, ch'altri cangia il pelo anzi che 'l vezzo."

"Né del vulgo mi cal, né di Fortuna."

"Una chiusa bellezza è piú soave."

"Tal par gran meraviglia, et poi si sprezza."

"Per bene star si scende molte miglia."

"Proverbio "ama chi t'ama" è fatto antico."

"Intendami chi pò, ch'i' m'intend'io."

"Amor regge suo imperio senza spada."

"Pandolfo mio, quest'opere son frali da ll lungo andar, ma 'l nostro studio è quello dche fa per fama gli uomini immortali."

"Vinse Hanibàl, et non seppe usar poi ben la vittoriosa sua ventura."

"Voi dunque, se cercate aver la mente anzi l'extremo dí queta già mai, seguite i pochi, et non la volgar gente."

"It is not perhaps, generally known, that he first revived the study of the Belles Lettres in Europe; that he purified the taste of the age; that he himself thought and wrote like a citizen of ancient and independent Rome; that he extirpated numerous prejudices, and paved the way to further improvements, in the circle of human knowledge; that to the hour of his death, he continued to exercise his distinguished talents, and in each successive work always surpassed the preceding. Still less is it known, that Petrarch was an able statesman; that the greatest sovereigns of his age confided to him the most difficult negotiations, and consulted him on their most important concerns; that in the fourteenth century, he possessed a higher reputation, credit and influence, than any man of learning of the present day; that three popes, an emperor, a king of France, a sovereign of Naples, a crowd of cardinals, the greatest princes, and most illustrious lords of Italy, courted his friendship, and desired his company; that, as a statesman, an ambassador and minister they employed him in the most intricate affairs of those times; that, in return, he was not backward in telling them the most unpleasant truths; that Solitude alone supplied him with all this power; that none was better acquainted with its advantages, Cherished them with such fondness, or extolled them with such energy, and at length, preferred leisure and liberty to every other consideration. He appeared, a long time, enervated by love, to which he had devoted the prime of his life, but he suddenly abandoned the soft and effeminate tone, in which he sighed at the feet of his Laura. He then addressed himself, with manly boldness, to kings, emperors, and popes, and always with that confidence which splendid talents and high reputation inspire."

"Petrarch, a character on whom I never think but with love, formed his mind entirely in Solitude, and there rendered himself capable of transacting the most important political affairs. Petrarch was, doubtless, sometimes what persons frequently become in Solitude, satirical, peevish and choleric. He has, in particular, been reproached with great severities, on account of his lively pictures of the manners of his age, and especially his description of the infamous vices practised at Avignon, during the pontificate of the sixth Clement. But Petrarch possessed a profound knowledge of the human heart, and extraordinary address in working upon the passions and directing them as he pleased. The Abbé de Sade, the best historian of his life, says, that he is scarcely known, but as the tender and elegant poet, who loved with ardor and sung in the most impassioned strains the charms of his mistress; and that nothing more is known of his character. Even authors are ignorant of the obligations which literature owes him; that he rescued it from the barbarism beneath which it had so long been buried; that he saved the best works of the ancient writers from dust and destruction, and that all these treasures would have been lost to us, if he had not sought and procured correct copies of them."

"The reason for this contrast between the French and the Italian mediaeval literature is not far to seek. Allegory is a characteristically mediaeval form; and in Italy the Middle Ages began so late and the Renaissance came so early that that country never had the opportunity to fall completely under the spell that held France from the time of the Roman de la Rose till the end of the fifteenth century. Thus Petrarch, in spite of the fact that he wrote perhaps more pure allegory than any other Italian, was at the same time an enthusiast for the New Learning."

"Francesco Petrarca, the mirror of our century, after completing a vast array of volumes, on reaching his seventy-first year, closed his last day in his library. He was found leaning over a book as if sleeping, so that his death was not at first suspected by his household."

"Lovely Laura in her light green dress, And faithful Petrarch gloriously crowned."

"Petrarch was the final blossom and perfection of the Troubadours."

"Think you, if Laura had been Petrarch's wife, He would have written sonnets all his life?"

"Obedir a Natura in tutto è il meglio."

"Ei sa che 'l vero parlo: ché legno vecchio mai non róse tarlo."

"Questa vita terrena è quasi un prato, che 'l serpente tra' fiori et l'erba giace; et s'alcuna sua vista agli occhi piace, è per lassar piú l'animo invescato."

"Canzon, s'uom trovi in suo amor viver queto, di': Muor' mentre se' lieto, ché morte al tempo è non duol, ma refugio; et chi ben pò morir, non cerchi indugio."

"O che lieve è inganar chi s'assecura!"

"Cosí nel mondo sua ventura à ciascun dal dí che nasce."

"I' so' colei che ti die' tanta guerra, et compie' mia giornata inanzi sera."

"L'acque parlan d'amore, et l'òra e i rami et gli augelletti et i pesci e i fiori et l'erba, tutti inseme pregando ch'i' sempre ami.'Ma tu, ben nata, che dal ciel mi chiami, per la memoria di tua morte acerba preghi ch'i' sprezzi 'l mondo e i suoi dolci hami."

"Veramente siam noi polvere et ombra, veramente la voglia cieca e 'ngorda, veramente fallace è la speranza."

"La vita fugge, et non s'arresta una hora."

"Ché 'ncontra 'l ciel non val difesa humana."

"Non è sí duro cor che, lagrimando, pregando, amando, talor non si smova, né sí freddo voler, che non si scalde."

"Co la morte a lato cerco del viver mio novo consiglio, et veggio 'l meglio, et al peggior m'appiglio."

"L'alta beltà ch'al mondo non à pare noia t'è, se non quanto il bel thesoro di castità par ch'ella adorni et fregi."

"Nulla al mondo è che non possano i versi."

"Le città son nemiche, amici i boschi."

"Il sonno è veramente, qual uom dice, parente de la morte, e 'l cor sottragge a quel dolce penser che 'n vita il tene."

"Beato in sogno et di languir contento, d'abbracciar l'ombre et seguir l'aura estiva, nuoto per mar che non à fondo o riva, solco onde, e 'n rena fondo, et scrivo in vento."

"Un bel morir tutta la vita honora."

"Chi po dir com'egli arde è 'n picciol foco."

"Pien d'un vago penser che me desvia da tutti gli altri."

"Sol se stessa, et nulla altra, simiglia."

"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."

"To-day I made the ascent of the highest mountain in this region, which is not improperly called Ventosum. My only motive was the wish to see what so great an elevation had to offer. I have had the expedition in mind for many years; for, as you know, I have lived in this region from infancy, having been cast here by that fate which determines the affairs of men. Consequently the mountain, which is visible from a great distance, was ever before my eyes, and I conceived the plan of some time doing what I have at last accomplished to-day."

"I rejoiced in my progress, mourned my weaknesses, and commiserated the universal instability of human conduct. I had well-nigh forgotten where I was and our object in coming; but at last I dismissed my anxieties, which were better suited to other surroundings, and resolved to look about me and see what we had come to see. The sinking sun and the lengthening shadows of the mountain were already warning us that the time was near at hand when we must go. As if suddenly wakened from sleep, I turned about and gazed toward the west. I was unable to discern the summits of the Pyrenees, which form the barrier between France and Spain; not because of any intervening obstacle that I know of but owing simply to the insufficiency of our mortal vision."

"Il sole / ridea calando dietro il Resegone"

"To thee of All Being /A te, de l’essere"