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Five enemies of peace inhabit with us — avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride; if these were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace.

— Petrarch De vita solitaria (1346)

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Peace

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 →

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All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom.

Albert Einstein Moral Decay (1937)

The most disadvantageous peace is better than the most just war.

Erasmus Adagia (1508)

There is a price which is too great to pay for peace, and that price can be put in one word. One cannot pay the price of self-respect.

Woodrow Wilson

To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.

George Washington

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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.