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Man has no greater enemy than himself. I have acted contrary to my sentiments and inclination; throughout our whole lives we do what we never intended, and what we proposed to do, we leave undone.

— Petrarch An Examination of the Advantages of Solitude and of Its Operations (1808)

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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.

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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.