"I certainly will not reject the praise you bestow upon me for having stimulated in many instances, not only in Italy but perhaps beyond its confines also, the pursuit of studies such as ours, which have suffered neglect for so many centuries; I am, indeed, almost the oldest of those among us who are engaged in the cultivation of these subjects. But I cannot accept the conclusion you draw from this, namely, that I should give place to younger minds, and, interrupting the plan of work on which I am engaged, give others an opportunity to write something, if they will, and not seem longer to desire to reserve everything for my own pen. How radically do our opinions differ, although, at bottom, our object is the same! I seem to you to have written everything, or at least a great deal, while to myself I appear to have produced almost nothing."

"Un bel morir tutta la vita honora."

"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."

"You, my friend, by a strange confusion of arguments, try to dissuade me from continuing my chosen work by urging, on the one hand, the hopelessness of bringing my task to completion, and by dwelling, on the other, upon the glory which I have already acquired. Then, after asserting that I have filled the world with my writings, you ask me if I expect to equal the number of volumes written by Origen or Augustine. No one, it seems to me, can hope to equal Augustine. Who, nowadays, could hope to equal one who, in my judgment, was the greatest in an age fertile in great minds? As for Origen, you know that I am wont to value quality rather than quantity, and I should prefer to have produced a very few irreproachable works rather than numberless volumes such as those of Origen, which are filled with grave and intolerable errors."

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

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

"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."

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

"Le bionde treccie sopra il collo sciolte."

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

"Sine auctore vero propositi libelli nullo crimine locum habere debent. Nam et pessimi exempli nec nostri saeculi est."

"Habet has vices conditio mortalium, ut adversa ex secundis, ex adversis secunda nascantur."

"Secunda felices, adversa magnos probent."

"Quamquam longissimus, dies cito conditur."

"Ut satius unum aliquid insigniter facere quam plura mediocriter, ita plurima mediocriter, si non possis unum aliquid insigniter."

"Ea invasit homines habendi cupido, ut possideri magis quam possidere videantur."

"Falsum est nimirum quod creditur vulgo, testamenta hominum speculum esse morum."

"Ad quae noscenda iter ingredi, transmittere mare solemus, ea sub oculis posita neglegimu. ... Differimus tamquam saepe visuri, quod datur videre quotiens velis cernere."

"Impensa monumenti supervacua est; memoria nostri durabit, si vita meruimus."

"Parvolum differt, patiaris adversa an exspectes; nisi quod tamen est dolendi modus, non est timendi. Doleas enim quantum scias accidisse, timeas quantum possit accidere."

"Nam nec historia debet egredi veritatem, et honeste factis veritas sufficit."

"Olim nescio quid sit otium quid quies, quid denique illud iners quidem, iucundum tamen nihil agere nihil esse."

"Neque enim soli iudicant qui maligne legunt."

"Est enim quaedam etiam dolendi voluptas, praesertim si in amici sinu defleas, apud quem lacrimis tuis vel laus sit parata vel venia."

"Multum legendum esse, non multa."

"In numero ipso est quoddam magnum collatumque consilium, quibusque singulis iudicii parum, omnibus plurimum."

"Oportet privatis utilitatibus publicas, mortalibus aeternas anteferre, multoque diligentius muneri suo consulere quam facultatibus."

"Quam multum interest quid a quoque fiat!"

"Everything was done."

"Nihil peccat, nisi quod nihil peccat."

"Mihi autem videtur acerba semper et immatura mors eorum, qui immortale aliquid parant."

"Proinde, dum suppetit vita, enitamur ut mors quam paucissima quae abolere possit inveniat."

"Est omnino iniquum, sed usu receptum, quod honesta consilia vel turpia, prout male aut prospere cedunt, ita vel probantur vel reprehenduntur."

"Si computes annos, exiguum tempus, si vices rerum, aevum putes."

"By then day had broken everywhere, but here it was still night—no, more than night."

"Dixi omnia cum hominem nominavi."

"Nescit enim semel incitata liberalitas stare, cuius pulchritudinem usus ipse commendat."

"Utque in corporibus sic in imperio gravissimus est morbus, qui a capite diffunditur."

"Multi famam, conscientiam pauci verentur."

"Neque enim minus apud nos honestas quam apud alios necessitas valet."

"Omnes enim, qui gloria famaque ducuntur, mirum in modum assensio et laus a minoribus etiam profecta delectat."

"Dicere etiam solebat nullum esse librum tam malum ut non aliqua parte prodesset.."

"O morte ipsa mortis tempus indignius!"

"Vita hominum altos recessus magnasque latebras habet."

"Educentur hic qui hic nascuntur, statimque ab infantia natale solum amare frequentare consuescant."

"Quamlibet saepe obligati, si quid unum neges, hoc solum meminerunt quod negatum est."

"Ornat haec magnitudo animi, quae nihil ad ostentationem, omnia ad conscientiam refert recteque facti non ex populi sermone mercedem, sed ex facto petit."

"Plenus annis abit, plenus honoribus."