Pietro Metastasio Quotes

• If our inward griefs were seen written on our brow, how many would be pitied who are now envied! [It., Se a ciascun l'interno affanno Si leggesse in fronte scritto, Quanti mai, che invidia fanno, Ci farebbero pieta!].

  Pietro Metastasio

  Grief, Would Be, Inward

  47 Copy quote

• Love is a feeling that comes into our hearts of our own choice for neither force nor harshness can limit the heart's freedom.

  Pietro Metastasio

  Love, Heart, Choices

  10 Copy quote

• It is the just decree of Heaven that a traitor never sees his danger till his ruin is at hand.

  Pietro Metastasio

  Hands, Heaven, Ruins

  56 Copy quote

• If you wish to behold God, you may see Him in every object around; search in your breast, and you will find Him there. And if you do not yet perceive where He dwells, confute me, if you can, and say where He is not.

  Pietro Metastasio

  God, Wish, May

  6 Copy quote

• The bee and the serpent often sip from the selfsame flower.

  Pietro Metastasio

  Flower, Bees, Serpent

  "Morte d' Abele". Part I, 1732.

  4 Copy quote

• How full of error is the judgment of mankind! They wonder at results when they are ignorant of the reasons

  Pietro Metastasio

  Errors, Ignorant, Wonder

  4 Copy quote

• Every noble acquisition is attended with its risks; he who fears to encounter the one must not expect to obtain the other.

  Pietro Metastasio

  Fear, Risk, Trying

  9 Copy quote

• The aged oak upon the steep stands more firm and secure if assailed by angry winds; for if the winter bares its head, the more strongly it strikes its roots into the ground, acquiring strength as it loses beauty.

  Pietro Metastasio

  Winter, Roots, Wind

  6 Copy quote

• The pilot who is always dreading a rock or a tempest must not complain if he remain a poor fisherman. We must at times trust, something to fortune, for fortune has often some share in what happens.

  Pietro Metastasio

  Rocks, Pilots, Complaining

  8 Copy quote

• If the internal griefs of every man could be read, written on his forehead, how many who now excite envy would appear to be the objects of pity?

  Pietro Metastasio

  Grief, Men, Envy

  6 Copy quote

• High birth is an accident, not a virtue.

  Pietro Metastasio

  Ancestry, Birth, Virtue

  6 Copy quote

• The eye that gazes upon the sun sees not the orb it looks upon, confounded by the excess of its brightness.

  Pietro Metastasio

  Eye, Looks, Excess

  9 Copy quote

• An old warrior is never in haste to strike the blow.

  Pietro Metastasio

  Warrior, Blow, Haste

  4 Copy quote

• Sharp and fell remorse, the offspring of my sin! Why do you, O God, lacerate my heart so late? Why, O boding cries, that scream so close to me,--why do I listen to you now, and never heard you before?

  Pietro Metastasio

  Heart, Cry, Sin

  7 Copy quote

• Cowards' weapons neither cut nor pierce.

  Pietro Metastasio

  Cutting, Coward, Weapons

  7 Copy quote

• If our inward griefs were written on our brows, how many who are envied now would be pitied. It would seem that they had their deadliest foe in their own breast, and their whole happiness would be reduced to mere seeming.

  Pietro Metastasio

  Happiness, Grief, Would Be

  4 Copy quote

• We are like vessels tossed on the bosom of the deep; our passions are the winds that sweep us impetuously forward; each pleasure is a rock; the whole life is a wide ocean. Reason is the pilot to guide us, but often allows itself to be led astray by the storms of pride.

  Pietro Metastasio

  Life, Ocean, Passion

  4 Copy quote

• Of all faults the greatest is the excess of impious terror, dishonoring divine grace. He who despairs wants love, wants faith; for faith, hope, and love are three torches which blend their light together, nor does the one shine without the other.

  Pietro Metastasio

  Light, Shining, Grace

  8 Copy quote

• It is by no means a fact that death is the worst of all evils; when it comes it is an alleviation to mortals who are worn out with sufferings.

  Pietro Metastasio

  Death, Mean, Evil

  4 Copy quote

• Fortune is the best school of courage when she is fraught with anger, in the same way as winds and tempests are the school of the sailorboy.

  Pietro Metastasio

  School, Wind, Way

  7 Copy quote

• Though the Indian ocean abounds in rich and rare gems, it does not boast a clearer sky nor more unruffled sea. If there be a shore that dreads not the fury of the faithless billows, it is some poor and narrow inlet unknown to the winds.

  Pietro Metastasio

  Ocean, Sky, Wind

  4 Copy quote

• Prepare thy soul calmly to obey; such offering will be more acceptable to God than every other sacrifice.

  Pietro Metastasio

  Sacrifice, Offering, Soul

  11 Copy quote

• The canker which the trunk conceals is revealed by the leaves, the fruit, or the flower.

  Pietro Metastasio

  Flower, Disease, Fruit

  "Giuseppe Riconosciuto". Part I, 1733.

  8 Copy quote

• If every man's internal care Were written on his brow, How many would our pity share Who raise our envy now?

  Pietro Metastasio

  Kindness, Men, Envy

  4 Copy quote

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