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To take away life is a power which the vilest of the earth have in common; to give it belongs to gods and kings alone.

— Pietro Metastasio La Clemenza di Tito (1734)

Il torre altrui la vita
È facoltà commune
Al più vil della terra; il darla è solo
De' Numi, e de' Regnanti.

Original text (Italian)

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Life

More quotes by Pietro Metastasio

The bee and the serpent often sip from the selfsame flower.

Morte d' Abele (1732)

Know that the slender shrub which is seen to bend, conquers when it yields to the storm.

Il Trionfo di Clelia (1762)

That water which falls from some Alpine height is dashed, broken, and will murmur loudly, but grows limpid by its fall.

Alcide al Bivio (1760)

The canker which the trunk conceals is revealed by the leaves, the fruit, or the flower.

Giuseppe Riconosciuto (1733)

What will the stream become in its lengthened course, if it be so turbid at its source?

Morte d' Abele (1732)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Pietro Metastasio (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.