O you who hear within these scattered verses
The sound of sighs with which I fed my heart
In my first errant youthful days when I
In part was not the man I am today.

Voi ch' ascoltate in rime sparse il suono
Di quei sospiri ond'io nudriva 'l core
In sul mio primo giovenile errore,
Quand' era in parte altr' uom da quel ch' i' sono.

Petrarch

More information about this quote

Topic

Learning from the past Looking back

Author

Petrarch

Medium

Poem

Language

Italian

Time

1352 1350s 14th century

Era

European Renaissance

Occupation

Poet Scholar

From

Italy Europe

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Petrarch. Rerum vulgarium fragmenta. c. 1352.

Current Citation

Petrarch. "Selections from the Canzoniere." Selections from the Canzoniere and Other Works. Oxford University Press, 1999.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Petrarch about learning from the past: “O you who hear within these scattered verses The sound of sighs with…”
Download
A quote by Petrarch about learning from the past: “O you who hear within these scattered verses The sound of sighs with…”
Download
A quote by Petrarch about learning from the past: “O you who hear within these scattered verses The sound of sighs with…”
Download

Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote from the 14th century

Consider your origin;
you were not born to live like brutes,
but to follow virtue and knowledge.

Dante Alighieri

Inferno

Buy Inferno at Amazon Buy Inferno at Amazon
Read the Divine Comedy at Project Gutenberg
More information about this quote
Topic
Purpose of life Virtue

Author

Dante Alighieri
Source
Inferno The Divine Comedy
Medium
Poem
Genre
Narrative poem Epic poem Religious literature
Language
Italian
Time
1321 1320s 14th century
Era
Middle Ages
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Alighieri, Dante. "Inferno [Hell]." La Comedia di Dante Alleghieri [The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri]. Foligno: Johann Numeister and Evangelista Angelini da Trevi, 1472.

Current Citation

Alighieri, Dante. "Inferno." The Divine Comedy, edited by David H. Higgins, translated by C. H. Sisson. Oxford University Press, 2008.

Another quote from European Renaissance

Press not a falling man too far!

William Shakespeare

Henry VIII

Buy Henry VIII at Amazon Buy Henry VIII at Amazon
Read Henry VIII at The Folger Shakespeare Library
More information about this quote
Topic
Pushing one's limits
Speaker
Lord Chamberlain

Author

William Shakespeare
Source
Henry VIII
Medium
Play
Genre
History (play)
Statement Type
Advice
Language
English
Time
1613 1610s 17th century
Era
European Renaissance
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Shakespeare, William and John Fletcher. Henry VIII. King's Men, 1613, Globe Theatre, London, England, UK, act 3, sc. 2.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "Henry the Eighth." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblattet al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 3, sc. 2.

Another quote originally in Italian

The time will come when this universe and nature herself will be no more. And just as of very great human kingdoms and empires and of their marvelous exploits, which were so very famous in other ages, there remains no sign of fame whatsoever, so too of the entire world, and of the infinite vicissitudes and calamities of all created things, no single trace will remain, but a naked silence and a most profound quiet will fill the immensity of space. Thus, this stupendous and frightening mystery of universal existence, before it can be declared or understood, will vanish and be lost.

Giacomo Leopardi

More information about this quote
Topic
Death of the universe The universe

Author

Giacomo Leopardi
Source
The Song of the Wild Rooster Operette Morali
Language
Italian
Time
1835 1830s 19th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Leopardi, Giacomo. "Cantico del gallo silvestre [Song of the Wild Rooster]." Operette morali [Small Moral Works]. Naples: Presso Saverio Starita, 1835.

Current Citation

Leopardi, Giacomo. "Song of the Great Wild Rooster." Operette Morali: Essays and Dialogues. University of California Press, 1983.