“The sweetest pleasures are those which are hardest to be won.”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“Beauty without wit offers nothing but the enjoyment of its material charms, whilst witty ugliness captivates by the charms of the mind, and at last fulfils all the desires of the man it has captivated.”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“As for myself, I always willingly acknowledge my own self as the principal cause of every good and of every evil which may befall me; therefore, I have always found myself capable of being my own pupil, and ready to love my teacher.”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“Desires are but pain and torment, and enjoyment is sweet because it delivers us from them.”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“There is no such thing as a perfectly happy or perfectly unhappy man in the world. One has more happiness in his life and another more unhappiness, and the same circumstance may produce widely different effects on individuals of different temperaments.”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“I am writing My Life so that I may laugh at myself, and I am succeeding.”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“Alcuni dicono che la vita è solo un insieme di sventure; in altre parole, che la vita è una sventura; ma se la vita è una sventura, la morte deve essere sicuramente il contrario, cioè una fortuna, dato che la morte è l'opposto della vita. Questa conclusione sembrerebbe inevitabile. Ma coloro che parlano così sono sicuramente malati o poveri, fossero in buona salute, avessero la borsa ben fornita, l'allegria in cuore, delle Cecilie, delle Marine e la speranza di altre cose ancor migliori, allora cambierebbero sicuramente parere. Io li considero una razza di pessimisti che si alligna solo tra i filosofi spiantati e i teologhi bricconi e atrabiliari. Se il piacere esiste e lo si può godere solo da vivi, la vita è una fortuna.”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“They [his readers, whom he asks to be his friends] will find that I have always loved truth so passionately that I have often resorted to lying as a way of first introducing it into minds which were ignorant of its charms” (Casanova, p.34, Vol 1 Preface).”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“THE MAN WHO MAKES NO MISTAKES USUALLY MAKES NOTHING”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“La sofferenza è insita nella natura umana; ma non soffriamo mai, o almeno molto di rado, senza nutrire la speranza della guarigione; e la speranza è un piacere. Se talvolta l'uomo soffre senza speranza di guarire, la sicurezza matematica che l'esistenza finirà deve essere un piacere; perchè, nella peggiore delle ipotesi, la morte sarà un sonno pesante, durante il quale saremo consolati da sogni felici, oppure la perdita della conoscenza; ma quando godiamo, la riflessione che il nostro godimento sarà seguito dalla sofferenza non viene mai a turbarci. Il piacere, quindi, mentre ce lo procuriamo, è sempre puro; il dolore è sempre temperato.
[...]
L'uomo saggio, credetemi, non potrà mai essere completamente infelice; sono propenso a credere al mio amico Orazio, il quale afferma che il saggio è sempre felice: nisi quum pituita molesta est. Ma qual è il mortale che ha sempre il catarro?”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“Happiness is gained by complying with the duties of whatever condition of life one is in, and you must constrain yourself to rise to that exalted station in which destiny has placed you.”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“Happy are those who know how to obtain pleasures without injury to anyone; insane are those who fancy that the Almighty can enjoy the sufferings, the pains, the fasts and abstinences which they offer to Him as a sacrifice,”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“I always feel the greatest bliss when I recollect those I have caught in my snares, for they generally are insolent, and so self-conceited that they challenge wit. We avenge intellect when we dupe a fool, and it is a victory not to be despised for a fool is covered with steel and it is often very hard to find his vulnerable part. In fact, to gull a fool seems to me an exploit worthy of a witty man.”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“faith must believe without discussion, and the stronger it is, the more it keeps silent.”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“Rhetoric makes use of nature’s secrets in the same way as painters who try to imitate it: their most beautiful work is false.”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“The errors caused by temperament are not to be corrected, because our temperament is perfectly independent of our strength: it is not the case with our character. Heart and head are the constituent parts of character; temperament has almost nothing to do with it, and, therefore, character is dependent upon education, and is susceptible of being corrected and improved. I”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“I have had friends who have acted kindly towards me, and it has been my good fortune to have it in my power to give them substantial proofs of my gratitude.”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“Hatred, in the course of time, kills the unhappy wretch who delights in nursing it in his bosom. Should”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“Happy are those who know how to obtain pleasures without injury to anyone; insane are those who fancy that the Almighty can enjoy the sufferings, the pains, the fasts and abstinences which they offer to Him as a sacrifice, and that His love is granted only to those who tax themselves so foolishly.”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“In fact, I do not believe there is an honest man alive without some pretension,”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“Oh, cruel ennui! It must be by mistake that those who have invented the torments of hell have forgotten to ascribe thee the first place among them.”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“I hate death; for, happy or miserable, life is the only blessing which man possesses, and those who do not love it are unworthy of it. If we prefer honour to life, it is because life is blighted by infamy; and if, in the alternative, man sometimes throws away his life, philosophy must remain silent. Oh,”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“Death is a monster which turns away from the great theatre an attentive hearer before the end of the play which deeply interests him, and this is reason enough to hate it. All”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“I always feel the greatest bliss when I recollect those I have caught in my snares, for they generally are insolent, and so self-conceited that they challenge wit. We avenge intellect when we dupe a fool, and it is a victory not to be despised for a fool is covered with steel and it is often very hard to find his vulnerable part. In”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“Ein solches Glück hatte ich stets bis zu meinem fünfzigsten Lebensjahr, wenn ich in Bedrängnis geriet. Sobald ich rechtschaffene Leute fand, die sich für die Geschichte des Unglücks interessierten, das mich bedrückte, und ich sie ihnen erzählte, flösste ich ihnen jene Freundschaft ein, die nötig war, um sie mir günstig und hilfreich zu stimmen. Der Kunstgriff, den ich dabei anwandte, bestand darin, dass ich die Sache wahrheitsgetreu erzählte, ohne gewisse Einzelheiten auszulassen, zu deren Erwähnung man Mut braucht. Darin liegt das ganze Geheimnis, und wenige wissen es anzuwenden, weil die Menschheit zum grössten Teil aus Feiglingen besteht; ich weiss aus Erfahrung, dass die Wahrheit ein Talisman ist, dessen Zauberkräfte nie versagen, vorausgesetzt, dass man sie nicht an Spitzbuben verschwendet. Ich glaube, wer seine Schuld einem gerechten Richter zu gestehen wagt, wird leichter freigesprochen als ein Unschuldiger, der Ausflüchte sucht.”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
“My great treasure is that I am my own master, that I am not dependent upon anyone, and that I am not afraid of misfortunes.”
― Giacomo Casanova, quote from The Story of My Life
Giacomo Casanova
Born place: in Venice, Italy
Born date April 2, 1725
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“Marriage . . . is not a love affair; it is an ordeal. (92)”
― Joseph Campbell, quote from Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor
“Yes, yes, yes, he felt uncontrollable tenderness for his own shit-filled life. And a laughable hunger for more. More defeat! More disappointment! More deceit! More loneliness! More arthritis! More missionaries! God willing, more cunt! More disastrous entanglement in everything. For a pure sense of being tumultuously alive, you can't beat the nasty side of existence.”
― Philip Roth, quote from Sabbath's Theater
“Consistency is the defense of a small mind”
― David Eddings, quote from The Seeress of Kell
“But still she was motionless, like a curled up, oblivious creature. His heart beat with strange throes of pain. Then, by a motion under his hand, he knew she was crying, holding herself hard so that her tears should not be known. He waited. The tension continued—perhaps she was not crying—then suddenly relapsed with a sharp catch of a sob. His heart flamed with love and suffering for her. Kneeling carefully on the bed, so that his earthy boots should not touch it, he took her in his arms to comfort her. The sobs gathered in her, she was sobbing bitterly. But not to him. She was still away from him. He held her against his breast, whilst she sobbed, withheld from him, and all his body vibrated against her. "Don't cry—don't cry," he said, with an odd simplicity. His heart was calm and numb with a sort of innocence of love, now. She still sobbed, ignoring him, ignoring that he held her. His lips were dry. "Don't cry, my love," he said, in the same abstract way. In his breast his heart burned like a torch, with suffering. He could not bear the desolateness of her crying. He would have soothed her with his blood. He heard the church clock chime, as if it touched him, and he waited in suspense for it to have gone by. It was quiet again. "My love," he said to her, bending to touch her wet face with his mouth. He was afraid to touch her. How wet her face was! His body trembled as he held her. He loved her till he felt his heart and all his veins would burst and flood her with his hot, healing blood. He knew his blood would heal and restore her. She was becoming quieter. He thanked the God of mercy that at last she was becoming quieter. His head felt so strange and blazed. Still he held her close, with trembling arms. His blood seemed very strong, enveloping her. And at last she began to draw near to him, she nestled to him. His limbs, his body, took fire and beat up in flames. She clung to him, she cleaved to his body. The flames swept him, he held her in sinews of fire. If she would kiss him! He bent his mouth down. And her mouth, soft and moist, received him. He felt his veins would burst with anguish of thankfulness, his heart was mad with gratefulness, he could pour himself out upon her for ever. When they came to themselves, the night was very dark. Two hours had gone by. They lay still and warm and weak, like the new-born, together. And there was a silence almost of the unborn. Only his heart was weeping happily, after the pain. He did not understand, he had yielded, given way. There was no understanding. There could be only acquiescence and submission, and tremulous wonder of consummation. The”
― D.H. Lawrence, quote from The Rainbow
“Students never appreciate their teachers while they are learning. It is only later, when they know more of the world, that they understand how indebted they are to those who instructed them. Good teachers expect no praise or love from the young. They wait for it, and in time, it comes.”
― Darren Shan, quote from Vampire Mountain
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