Pietro Aretino (1492–1556) was an Italian poet, prose writer, and dramatist. One of the most influential writers of the Renaissance, he was celebrated throughout Europe in his time for his satire and bold and proud literary attacks on the powerful. His fiery letters and dialogues are of great biographical and topical interest.
Born in Arezzo, Tuscany, Republic of Florence, Aretino was banished from his native town. He went to Perugia, where he worked as a bookbinder, and subsequently wandered through Italy to serve various noblemen.
In Rome (1517–27,) Aretino won the friendship of Giovanni di Lorenzo de’ Medici (later Pope Leo X) and Giulio di Giuliano de’ Medici (later Pope Clement VII,) which he subsequently lost by writing his Sonetti lussuriosi (1524, ‘Lewd Sonnets,’) and ingratiated himself with Francis I, king of France, at Milan in 1524. He also acquired powerful friends when he settled in Venice. His poetical works include live comedies (of which the best known in Cortigiana (1534)) and the tragedy Orazia (1546, The Horatii.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Pietro Aretino
We are the buffoons of our children.
—Pietro Aretino
Topics: Children
They merit more praise who know how to suffer misery than those who temper themselves with contentment.
—Pietro Aretino
Topics: Perseverance, Resolve, Difficulties, Endurance, Adversity
Anger represents a certain power, when a great mind, prevented from executing its own generous desires, is moved by it.
—Pietro Aretino
Topics: Anger
I love you, and because I love you, I would sooner have you hate me for telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies.
—Pietro Aretino
Topics: Hate, Romance, The Truth, Cause, Lies, Truth, Love
Angry men are blind and foolish, for reason at such a time takes flight and, in her absence, wrath plunders all the riches of the intellect, while the judgment remains the prisoner of its own pride.
—Pietro Aretino
Topics: Anger
I keep my friends as misers do their treasure, because, of all the things granted us by wisdom, none is greater or better than friendship.
—Pietro Aretino
Topics: Friends and Friendship, Friendship
I am, indeed, a king, because I know how to rule myself.
—Pietro Aretino
Topics: Discipline, Self-Control, Integrity
If you want to annoy your neighbors, tell the truth about them.
—Pietro Aretino
Topics: Truth, Neighbors
A high heart ought to bear calamities and not flee them, since in bearing them appears the grandeur of the mind and in fleeing them the cowardice of the heart.
—Pietro Aretino
Topics: Resolve, Endurance, Perseverance
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Petrarch Italian Scholar
Luigi Pirandello Italian Dramatist
Vittorio Alfieri Italian Poet, Dramatist
Leonardo da Vinci Italian Polymath
Leon Battista Alberti Italian Architect
William Motter Inge American Playwright
Tennessee Williams American Playwright
Thornton Wilder American Novelist, Dramatist
William Shakespeare British Playwright
Giacomo Leopardi Italian Poet