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When the poet died his cat was put to death and mummified.
Petrarch -
Mere elegance of language can produce at best but an empty renown.
Petrarch
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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 -
Wanting is not enough, long and you attain it.
Petrarch -
For style beyond the genius never dares.
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 -
He loves but lightly who his love can tell.
Petrarch -
All pleasure in the world is a passing dream.
Petrarch
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Life in itself is short enough, but the physicians with their art, know to their amusement, how to make it still shorter.
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 -
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!
Petrarch -
Those spacious regions where our fancies roam, Pain'd by the past, expecting ills to come, In some dread moment, by the fates assign'd, Shall pass away, nor leave a rack behind; And Time's revolving wheels shall lose at last The speed that spins the future and the past: And, sovereign of an undisputed throne, Awful eternity shall reign alone.
Petrarch -
I know and love the good, yet, ah! the worst pursue.
Petrarch -
A short cut to riches is to subtract from our desires.
Petrarch
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To be able to say how much love, is love but little.
Petrarch -
Man has not a greater enemy than himself.
Petrarch -
I would have preferred to have been born in any other time than our own.
Petrarch -
While life is in your body, you have the rein of all thoughts in your hands.
Petrarch -
It may be only glory that we seek here, but I persuade myself that, as long as we remain here, that is right. Another glory awaits us in heaven and he who reaches there will not wish even to think of earthly fame.
Petrarch -
How difficult it is to save the bark of reputation from the rocks of ignorance.
Petrarch
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Books have led some to learning and others to madness.
Petrarch -
There is no lighter burden, nor more agreeable, than a pen.
Petrarch -
The time will come when every change shall cease, This quick revolving wheel shall rest in peace: No summer then shall glow, not winter freeze; Nothing shall be to come, and nothing past, But an eternal now shall ever last.
Petrarch -
The greater I am, the greater shall be my efforts.
Petrarch