Petrarch Quotes
Francesco Petrarch was an Italian scholar, poet, and one of the founders of Renaissance humanism. His rediscovery of a lost cache of Cicero's letters at Verona helped to inaugurate the recovery of classical literature, and his Latin works Africa, On the Solitary Life, and the Secretum, an interior dialogue with Augustine, articulated a new vision of the examined human life. The quotes below are attributed to Petrarch, organized by topic.
Petrarch on Happiness
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Attributed to Petrarch:
“There is a certain pleasure in weeping.”
Petrarch on Knowledge
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Attributed to Petrarch:
“Books have led some to learning and others to madness.”
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Attributed to Petrarch:
“I am alone, and the more I think, the less I know.”
Petrarch on Life
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Attributed to Petrarch:
“Glory is like a circle in the water, which never ceases to enlarge itself, till by broad spreading it disperses to nothing.”
Petrarch on Virtue
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Attributed to Petrarch:
“It is better to will the good than to know the truth.”
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Attributed to Petrarch:
“Five enemies of peace inhabit with us: avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride.”