Quotes from The Decameron
19 notable lines from Giovanni Boccaccio · c. 1351
A kissed mouth doesn't lose its freshness, for like the moon it always renews itself.
Quotations follow the Wayne A. Rebhorn translation (W. W. Norton, 2013) — our recommended edition.
It is better to do and repent than not to do and repent.
Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron 'Tis humane to have compassion on the afflicted; and as it shews well in all, so it is especially demanded of those who have had need of comfort and have found it in others.
Opening line, Proem · trans. J. M. Rigg How many valiant men, how many fair ladies, how many sprightly youths, whom, not others only, but Galen, Hippocrates or Aesculapius themselves would have judged most hale, breakfasted in the morning with their kinsfolk, comrades and friends and that same night supped with their ancestors in the other world!
First Day, Introduction (the Black Death in Florence) · trans. J. M. Rigg Do as we say, and not as we do.
Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron While compassion is not a crime among mortals, it is commended most in those from whom cruelty might have been expected.
Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron Dying more like animals than human beings.
First Day, Introduction · trans. G. H. McWilliam While superfluity engenders disgust, appetite is but whetted when fruit is forbidden.
Fourth Day, Third Story · trans. J. M. Rigg Do as we say, not as we do.
Third Day, Seventh Story · trans. G. H. McWilliam A sin that's hidden is half forgiven.
First Day, Fourth Story · trans. G. H. McWilliam The power of the pen is far greater than those people suppose who have not proved it by experience.
Eighth Day, Seventh Story (the Scholar and the Widow) · trans. G. H. McWilliam An oak is not felled by a single blow of the axe.
Seventh Day, Ninth Story · trans. J. M. Rigg Every person born into this world has a natural right to sustain, preserve, and defend his own life to the best of his ability.
First Day, Introduction · trans. G. H. McWilliam In the affairs of this world, poverty alone is without envy.
Fourth Day, Introduction · trans. G. H. McWilliam The deceived has the better of the deceiver.
Second Day, Ninth Story · trans. J. M. Rigg People are more inclined to believe in bad intentions than in good ones.
Third Day, Sixth Story · trans. G. H. McWilliam The nature of wit is such that its bite must be like that of a sheep rather than a dog, for if it were to bite the listener like a dog, it would no longer be wit but abuse.
Sixth Day, Third Story · trans. G. H. McWilliam Charming ladies, the beauty of a flock of white doves is better enhanced by a black crow than by a pure white swan.
Ninth Day, Tenth Story · trans. G. H. McWilliam There is none of these stories so unseemly, but that it may without offence be told by any one, if but seemly words be used.
Conclusion of the Author · trans. J. M. Rigg