Ludovico Ariosto Quotes

Uno il saluta, un altro se gl'inchina,
Altri la mano, altri gli bacia il piede:
Ognun, quanto più può, se gli avvicina,
E beato si tien chi appresso il vede,
E più chi 'l tocca; che toccar divina
E sopranatural cosa si crede.
Lo pregan tutti, e vanno al ciel le grida,
Che sia lor re, lor capitan, lor guida.

Natura il fece, e poi roppe la stampa.

Statti col dolce in bocca; e non ti doglia
Ch'amareggiare al fin non te la voglia.

Si vede per gli esempi di che piene
Sono l'antiche e le moderne istorie,
Che 'l ben va dietro al male, e 'l male al bene,
E fin son l'un de l'altro e biasmi e glorie;
E che fidarsi a l'uom non si conviene
In suo tesor, suo regno e sue vittorie,
Né disperarsi per Fortuna avversa,
Che sempre la sua ruota in giro versa.

Ordina l'uomo e Dio dispone.

And over mastered by his choler, flies
With a clenched fist at him of Sericane.

Behold the state of man's unstable mind,
Still prone to change with every changing wind!
All our resolves are weak, but weakest prove
Where sprung from sense of disappointed love.

Natura d'ogni cosa più possente.

'Arms of Orlando, paladin',
By this inscription meaning to deter
Whoever saw the splendid trophy shine,
As though to say: 'Hands off, all who pass by,
Unless Orlando's strength you wish to try.'

A virgin is like a rose: while she remains on the thorn whence she sprang, alone and safe in a lovely garden, no flock, no shepherd approaches. The gentle breeze and the dewy dawn, water, and earth pay her homage; amorous youths and loving maidens like to deck their brows with her, and their breasts. / But no sooner is she plucked from her mother-stalk, severed from her green stem, than she loses all, all the favour, grace, and beauty wherewith heaven and men endowed her.

Want is a master which can sometimes make
A man the gravest sacrilege commit.

E tratto da la colera, aventosse
Col pugno chiuso al re di Sericana.

Orlando Furioso, trans. Guido Waldman (OUP Oxford, 1999),

Driven raving mad by love—and he a man who had been always esteemed for his great prudence.

Whoever in a noble noose is caught,
Although his lady may but ill receive
His ardour and thus render him distraught,
And no reward for his devotion give,
Whence all his time and labour come to naught,
Yet, if his heart be worthily bestowed,
No lamentation to his grief is owed.