Gian Carlo Passeroni

Gian Carlo Passeroni (8 March 1713 – 26 December 1803) was an Italian poet.

Giancarlo Passeroni

Quotes

Rime (1775)

• Non conoscendo Dio, come mai puoi
  Vantarti di dottrina? essendo cieco,
  De’ colori esser giudice tu vuoi.
  • Capitolo III.
  • Translation: Thou know’st not God; how, then, canst reason find
    To vaunt thy doctrine? ’tis as though thou ’dst claim
    To be a judge of colours, being blind.
  • Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 372.

• Il più tristo mestier che mai sia stato,
  Che sia, che mai sarà nel mondo tutto,
  A mio parere, è quel del letterato.
  • Capitolo IV.
  • Translation: The very meanest trade, I’m very sure,
    That e’er has been, or is, or e’er will be
    In all the world, is that of literature.
  • Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 319.

• Stampano i dotti e stampan gli ignoranti
  Libri diversi; e peggiorando invecchia
  Il mondo, in mezzo di tanti libri e tanti.
  • Capitolo VI.
  • Translation: Wise men and fools alike, in varying style,
    Rush into print, and still, midst books galore,
    The world grows ever older and more vile.
  • Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 424.

• Chi stampa un libro, par che sia obbligato
  A saper, quasi fosse Angiol celeste,
  Quanto è mai stato scritto, oppur sognato.
  • Capitolo VII.
  • Translation: Who prints a book, ’tis by the critics deemed,
    Should know, as might an angel come from heaven,
    All that has e’er been writ, or even dreamed.
  • Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 272.

External links

• Italian Wikipedia page on Giancarlo Passerino