Skip to content

He knows that I am speaking the truth, for no worm ever gnawed old wood.

— Petrarch Il Canzoniere (1351)

Ei sa che 'l vero parlo:
ché legno vecchio mai non róse tarlo.

Original text (Italian)

Another quote →

More quotes by Petrarch

Peace I do not find, and I have no wish to make war; and I fear and hope, and burn and am of ice.

Il Canzoniere (1351)

And of my raving, shame is the fruit, and repentance, and the clear knowledge that whatever pleases in the world is a brief dream.

Il Canzoniere (1351)

It is better to will the good than to know the truth.

The Renaissance : Essays in Interpretation (1982)

To be able to say how much you love is to love but little.

I rejoiced in my progress, mourned my weaknesses, and commiserated the universal instability of human conduct.

All Petrarch quotes →

Attribution

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