Giacomo Casanova
Giacomo Casanova
Giacomo Girolamo Casanovawas an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, Histoire de ma vie, is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century...
NationalityItalian
ProfessionMemoirist
Date of Birth2 April 1725
CountryItaly
taken lamps great-business
I found that the writer who says SUBLATA LUCERNA NULLUM DISCRIMEN INTER MULIERES ('when the lamp is taken away, all women are alike') says true; but without love, this great business is a vile thing.
christian war philosopher
I have lived as a philosopher and die as a Christian.
order principles minors
God, great principle of all minor principles, God, who is Himself without a principle, could not conceive Himself, if, in order to do it, He required to know His own principle.
confidence self useless
It is only necessary to have courage, for strength without self-confidence is useless.
witty men fool
In fact, to gull a fool seems to me an exploit worthy of a witty man.
punishment suffering fierce
God ceases to be God only for those who can admit the possibility of His non-existence, and that conception is in itself the most severe punishment they can suffer.
knaves fool deceived
You will be amused when you see that I have more than once deceived without the slightest qualm of conscience, both knaves and fools.
life-is worthy subjects
Worthy or not, my life is my subject, and my subject is my life.
needs reason deceitful
Hope is nothing but a deceitful flatterer accepted by reason only because it is often in need of palliatives.
love lying mind
I have always loved truth so passionately that I have often resorted to lying as a way of introducing it into the minds which were ignorant of its charms.
lying giving doubt
Should I perchance still feel after my death, I would no longer have any doubt, but I would most certainly give the lie to anyone asserting before me that I was dead.
wise government cities
The spirit of rebellion is present in every great city, and the great task of wise government is to keep it dormant, for if it wakes it is a torrent which no dam can hold back.
deals
I loved, I was loved, my health was good, I had a great deal of money, and I spent it, I was happy and I confessed it to myself.
success congratulations dark
My success and my misfortunes, the bright and the dark days I have gone through, everything has proved to me that in this world, either physical or moral, good comes out of evil just as well as evil comes out of good.