Vittorio Alfieri

Ofttimes the test of courage becomes rather to live than to die.

Count Vittorio Alfieri (16 January 1749 – 8 October 1803) was an Italian dramatist, considered the "founder of Italian tragedy".

Quotes

Vittorio Alfieri, in Le opere di Vittorio Alfieri, 1809

Tragedie, 1866 edition

• Volli, sempre volli, fortissimamente volli.
  • I willed, and always willed, and strongly willed.
  • Risposta dell'autore alla lettera di Ranieri de' Calzabigi, 1783

• Non nella pena,
  Nel delitto è la infamia.
  • Disgrace does not consist in the punishment, but in the crime.
  • Antigone, I, 3; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 148.

• Usurpator diffida
  Di tutti sempre.
  • A usurper always distrusts the whole world.
  • Polinice, III, 2; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 197.

• A giurar presti i mentitor son sempre.
  • Liars are always most disposed to swear.
  • Virginia, II, 3; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 485.

• Ove son leggi,
  Tremar non dee chi leggi non infranse.
  • Where there are laws, he who has not broken them need not tremble.
  • Virginia, II, 1; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 430.

• J'avais vu les grands, mais je n'avais pas vu les petits.
  • I had seen the great, but I had not seen the small.
  • Reason for Changing his Democratic Opinions; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 93.

• Alta vendetta
  D'alto silenzio è figlia.
  • Deep vengeance is the daughter of deep silence.
  • La Congiura de' Pazzi, I, 1; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 707.

• D'uomo è il fallir, ma dal malvagio il buono
  Scerne il dolor del fallo.
  • To err is human; but contrition felt for the crime distinguishes the virtuous from the wicked.
  • Rosmunda, III, 1; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 665.

• Sempre il miglior non è il parer primiero.
  • First thoughts are not always the best.
  • Don Garzia, III, 1; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 787.

• Spesso è da forte,
  Più che il morire, il vivere.
  • Ofttimes the test of courage becomes rather to live than to die.
  • Oreste, IV, 2; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 440.

• Che amar chi t'odia, ell'è impossibil cosa.
  • For 'tis impossible
    Hate to return with love.
  • Polinice, II, 4; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 464.