Giovanni Boccaccio (16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was a Florentine poet and story-writer who helped to initiate the humanist movement. His most famous work is The Decameron, a collection of 100 novelle or tales.
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The Decameron (c. 1350)
- Unless otherwise stated, translations are quoted from the version by G. H. McWilliam (Penguin, 1972) ISBN 0140442692
- Bocca baciata non perde ventura, anzi rinnuova come fa la luna.
- A kissed mouth doesn't lose its freshness, for like the moon it always renews itself.
- Second Day, Seventh Story.
- Io ho inteso che un gallo basta assai bene a diece galline, ma che diece uomini posson male o con fatica una femina sodisfare.
- I have always been given to understand…that whereas a single cock is quite sufficient for ten hens, ten men are hard put to satisfy one woman.
- Third Day, First Story.
- Fate quello che noi diciamo e non quello che noi facciamo.
- Do as we say, not as we do.
- Third Day, Seventh Story.
- Sola la miseria è senza invidia nelle cose presenti.
- In the affairs of this world, poverty alone is without envy.
- Fourth Day, Introduction.