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He who is wicked and held to be good, can cheat because no one imagines he would.

— Giovanni Boccaccio The Decameron (1350)

Chi è reo e buono è tenuto
Può fare il male e non è creduto.

Original text (Italian)

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Notes from Wikiquote

Whoso is bad, and is as good received, May evil do and will not be believed. (tr. Harbottle and Dalbiac)

More quotes by Giovanni Boccaccio

In the affairs of this world, poverty alone is without envy.

The Decameron (1350)

A sweet little mouth with lips like rubies.

The Decameron (1350)

Nobility cannot descend to us as an inheritance, except as do virtue, knowledge, holiness, and such like things.

The ass gets back from the wall as good as he gives.

They boosted themselves with such nauseating self-praise as to make the stones jump out of the walls and flee.

Il Corbaccio (1355)

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Attribution

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