Francesco Petrarca — a remark

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“Constant toil and unbroken application are the food of my spirit; when I begin to rest and slacken my work, I shall also cease to live.”

Original: Labor assiduus et continua applicatio cibus est animi mei; cum quiescere et laborem remittere coepero, tunc etiam vivere desinam. — Work as vocation rather than burden. · Letters (Epistole), commonly cited (Latin)

About Francesco Petrarca

Francesco Petrarca

1304–19 July 1374

Francesco Petrarca, known in English as Petrarch, was born on 20 July 1304 in Arezzo, Tuscany, and died during the night of 18–19 July 1374 at Arquà, near Padua. He stands among the decisive makers of European literary culture: a poet whose Italian lyrics established an enduring language of desire; a Latin author who…

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Poems by Francesco Petrarca

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More remarks by Francesco Petrarca

“Today I climbed the highest mountain in this region, not improperly called Ventosum. My only motive was the wish to see what so great a height had to offer.”

Original: Altissimum regionis huius montem, quem non immerito Ventosum vocant, hodie, sola videndi cupiditate ductus, ascendi. — The opening of a famous letter that turns a climb into an examination of the inner life. · Letter to Dionigi di Borgo San Sepolcro on the ascent of Mont Ventoux, Familiares IV, 1 (Latin)

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