quotes from classic

Let who will boast their courage in the field, I find but little safety from my shield, Nature's, not honour's law we must obey: This made me cast my useless shield away.

more quotes from Archilochus

I love you, and because I love you, I would sooner have you hate me for telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies.

more quotes from Pietro Aretino

Perugia is my true fatherland because there I grew to manhood.

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Flattery and deceit are the darlings of great men, and so with these men spread the butter on thick, if you want to get something out of them, otherwise you'll come home to me with a full belly and an empty purse.

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I am a free man. I do not need to copy Petrarca or Boccaccio. My own genius is enough. Let others worry themselves about style, and so cease to be themselves. Without a master, without a model, without a guide, I go to work and earn my living, my well-being and my fame.

more quotes from Pietro Aretino

What evil is there in seeing a man possess a woman? Why, the beasts would be more free than we!

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Why should the eyes be denied what delights them most?

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A high heart ought to bear calamities and not flee them, since in bearing them appears the grandeur of the mind and in fleeing them the cowardice of the heart.

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I am, indeed, a king, because I know how to rule myself.

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If you want to annoy your neighbors, tell the truth about them.

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I keep my friends as misers do their treasure, because, of all the things granted us by wisdom, none is greater or better than friendship.

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Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius.

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From heresy, frenzy and jealousy, good Lord deliver me.

more quotes from Ludovico Ariosto

Such fire was not by water to be drowned, nor he his nature changed by changing ground.

more quotes from Ludovico Ariosto

They think they have God Almighty by the toe.

more quotes from Ludovico Ariosto

Who seems most hideous when adorned the most.

more quotes from Ludovico Ariosto

Man proposes, and God disposes.

more quotes from Ludovico Ariosto

When the devil grows old he turns hermit.

more quotes from Ludovico Ariosto

Love is simply the name for the desire and the pursuit of the whole.

more quotes from Aristophanes

Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever.

more quotes from Aristophanes