They merit more praise who know how to suffer misery than those who temper themselves in contentment.

The art of war is like the art of the courtesan; indeed they might be called sisters, since both are slaves of desperation.

Nothing, it appears to me, is of greater value in a man than the power of judgment; and the man who has it may be compared to a chest filled with books, for he is the son of nature and the father of art.

Why should I be ashamed to describe what nature was not ashamed to create?

With a goose-quill and a few sheets of paper, I mock myself of the universe. They say I am the son of a courtesan; it may be so, but I have the heart of a King. I live free, I enjoy myself, I can call myself happy.

A high heart ought to bear calamities and not flee them, since in bearing them appears the grandeur of the mind and in fleeing them the cowardice of the heart.

Perugia is my true fatherland because there I grew to manhood.