“I seem to you to have written everything, or at least a great deal; to myself I appear to have produced almost nothing.”

Original: Tibi omnia, vel certe multa, scripsisse videor; mihi autem paene nihil edidisse. — An ageing writer's sense that fame and inner judgement do not match. · Letter to Giovanni Boccaccio, 28 April 1373 (Latin)

• Fame
• Humility
• Writing

“Man has no greater enemy than himself.”

Original: Nullum homini maius hostem quam se ipsum. — A moral commonplace of his dialogues on fortune: we thwart our own intentions. · De remediis utriusque fortunae, Book II (Latin)

• Character
• Self
• Struggle

“The more I travel the world, the less I like it.”

Original: Il mondo, più che io lo giro, e meno mi piace. — Weariness of courts and cities behind the love of Vaucluse and books. · Familiar letters, commonly cited in Italian versions of the Latin correspondence

• Discontentment
• Travel
• World