Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Stefano Guazzo

Italian Writer

"Custome is a great Tyrant."

"All service is bestowed, which is not well accepted."

"Love rather to bee then to seem to bee."

"Melancholie followeth unreasonable and superfluous appetites."

"Place neither giveth nor taketh away vertue."

"The chiefest virtue is to abstain from vice."

"The disposition of the mynd followeth the complexion of the body."

"What thing was the most swiftest in the world? Mans minde, because in a moment of time it discurres all things."

"Mirth is the onelie instrument to prolong mannes life."

"Where the ryver is deepest, it runneth quietest."

"To have health of body, it is necessarie to have contentment of minde."

"There is no king but is descended of slaves, nor slave but cometh of kings."

"And if thou freely wilt, in bribes thy coyne bestow, both judge, and jurie will bee prest, all favor thee to showe: Yea Gods from heaven will hither come, all honor thee to doe."

"As there is nothing more hurtfull than to bee hated, so there is nothing more helpefull then to be loved."

"A woman, an asse, and a walnut tree, Bring the more fruit, the more beaten they be. "

"A king without instruction is like a donkey crowned."

"According to the physiognomists the monster in body is a monster in mind."

"And if thou freely wilt, in bribes thy coyne bestow, both judge, and jurie will bee prest, all favor thee to showe: Yea Gods from heaven will hither come, all honor thee to doe"

"Better a live dog than a dead lion."

"Crows do not pick out other crows? eyes."

"It is better to be the head of a lizard than the tail of a dragon."

"It is better to give away the wool than the sheep."

"Man, in a word, is a world in miniature, and the most perfect and most finished work of God."

"Many judges and counsellors are afraid to name to their prince that excellent mother of a bad son, I mean Truth."

"He who does not look before him stays behind."

"In an old man all his other vices grow old, but avarice alone grows younger."

"I call the beginning of death the whole course of life, beginning with our birth, from which point we commence to die, and each moment of every day brings us nearer to our end."

"The mouth of hell is full of good resolutions."

"There are many who write good deeds in the dust, and injuries on marble."

"There is nothing that adds more lustre to a prince than having efficient officers."

"To show favour to a villain is to sow in the sea, and to be guilty of an injustice."

"Water at a distance does not put out a fire near at hand."

"When the prayer is granted, they cheat the saint."