1001Philosophers

Lorenzo Valla Quotes

Lorenzo Valla was an Italian Renaissance humanist, philologist, and rhetorician, one of the founders of modern textual criticism. His Discourse on the Forgery of the Donation of Constantine demonstrated by linguistic and historical analysis that the document on which the papacy had based much of its temporal claims was a medieval forgery. The quotes below are attributed to Lorenzo Valla, organized by topic.

Lorenzo Valla on God

  • Attributed to Lorenzo Valla:

    “True religion is for the heart, not the schools.”

Lorenzo Valla on Happiness

  • Attributed to Lorenzo Valla:

    “Pleasure rightly understood is not opposed to virtue but its ally.”

Lorenzo Valla on Knowledge

  • Attributed to Lorenzo Valla:

    “Eloquence is the queen of the world, and philosophy without eloquence is sterile.”

Lorenzo Valla on Truth

  • Attributed to Lorenzo Valla:

    “He who falsifies a text falsifies thought itself.”

  • Attributed to Lorenzo Valla:

    “A few words said with care are worth more than many spoken without thought.”