Francesco Berni Quotes

To lose the thing we love is greater pain
Than to desire and never to obtain.

Nor power nor pleasure e'er can be enjoyed,
What time they with suspicion are alloyed.

Che il far giudicio appartien solo a Dio.

Ne in prosa e detta ne in rima
Cosa, che non sia stata detta prima.

Cursed be he who e'er has put his trust
Or who henceforth shall trust in woman's heart;
False are they all, and to mankind a curse;
The plain are bad enough, the fair are worse.

The loss of what we have is pain more dire
Than not to gain the thing that we desire.

And this doth overpass all other pain,
To find that our last hope is all in vain.

Per saper se 'l demonio e come pare,
S'egli e si brutto com' egli e dipinto.

Che 'l perder l'acquistato e maggior doglia
Che mai non acquistar quel che l'uom voglia.

(Ed un certo proverbio cosl fatto
Dice cbe) il danno toglie ancbe il cervello;
E cbe cbi e rubato, come matto
va dando la colpa a questo e quello.

Think not that aught the fury can surpass
Of woman, when she feels that she is scorned.

Let him look to it, who is pleased with the game of Tarocco, that the only signification of this word Tarocco, is stupid, foolish, simple, fit only to be used by Bakers, Coblers, and the vulgar, to play at most for the fourth part of a Carlino, at Tarocchi, or at Trionfi, or any Sminckiate whatever: which in every way signifies only foolery and idleness, feasting the eye with the Sun, and the Moon, and the twelve (signs) as children do.

Così da sempre ogni capo canuto
Piu volentier consilio, ched ajuto.

Like to a leafless tree,
Dry river bed, or house in pathless waste,
Is gentle blood that hath no courtesy.

A certain proverb, that the whole world knows,
Says that loss also steals away our senses,
And that the man thus robbed, like madman goes
About, and right and left the blame dispenses.