Quotes from Pietro Aretino

And there is quite a different sort of conversation around a fire than there is in the shadow of a beech tree.... [F]our dry logs have in them all the circumstance necessary to a conversation of four or five hours, with chestnuts on the plate and a jug of wine between the legs. Yes, let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius.

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.

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.

Nothing, it appears to me is of greater value in a man than the power of judgement and the man who has it may be compared to a chest fulled with books, for he is the son of nature and the father of art.

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

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.

let us love winter, for it is the spring of genuis.

Why should I be ashamed to describe what nature was not ashamed to create?

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

They merit more praise who know how to suffer misery than those who temper themselves with contentment.

Even when I'm railed at, I get my quota of renown.

The world has many kings but only one Michelangelo.

The best thing for a man to do is to be born and, being born, to die at once.

A man who permits his honor to be taken, permits his life to be taken.

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

Why should I be ashamed to describe what nature was not ashamed to create?

Poetry is a whim of Nature in her lighter moods; it requires nothing but its own madness and, lacking that, it becomes a soundless cymbal, a belfry without a bell.

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

Why should the eyes be denied what delights them most?

Life is a toy made of glass; it appears to be of inestimable price, but in reality it is very cheap.

With a goose-quill and a few sheets of paper, I mock myself of the universe. They say I am the son of a courtesan; it may be so, but I have the heart of a King. I live free, I enjoy myself, I can call myself happy.

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.

Angry men are blind and foolish, for reason at such time takes flight and, in her absence; wrath plunders all the riches of the intellect, while the judgment remains the prisoner of its own pride.

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