Giacomo Casanova citáty

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„Pekná žena, ale bez bystrej mysle, nedáva milencovi nič, okrem fyzickej rozkoše z jej krásy. Škaredá, ale múdra môže do tej miery vyvolať lásku muža k svojej inteligencii, že netúži po ničom inom. Ale čo môže povedať muž, ktorý natrafil na peknú, inteligentnú a vzdelanú ženu?“

„Keď ti žena zabuchne dvere pred nosom, určite ti nechá pootvorené okno.“

„Ak sa opýtaš mudrca, čo je láska, odpovie, že je to kladný prejav nenávisti.“

„Rozum je najväčším nepriateľom srdca.“

„Keď oklameme hlúposť, pomstíme rozum.“

„Jednoduchosť ducha je hlúposť, jednoduchosť srdca nevinnosť.“

„Pred zlomyseľným sa môžeme mať na pozore, ale pred hlúpym nie. Možno trestať zlomyseľnosť, ale nie hlúposť.“

„Vinou lekárov zahynie oveľa viacej ľudí, ako sa ich ich pomocou vylieči.“

„Láska je z troch štvrtín zvedavosť.“

„Na svete sú veci, o ktorých človek môže povedať, že ich pozná, až vtedy, keď ich skúsi.“

„Sexuálny zážitok dosahuje maximum v našich predstavách. V praxi je polovičný.“

„Človek, ktorý sa nachádza v núdzi a prosí boháča o pomoc, stratí jeho úctu, keď dostane podporu a získa jeho pohŕdanie, ak mu je podpora odmietnutá.“

„Náš rozum je ako strelný prach: môže ľahko vybuchnúť, ale nikdy nevybuchne, kým ho niekto nezapáli.“

„Neprítomní nemajú nikdy pravdu.“

„Sú okamžiky, v ktorých nám dôvtip nedovolí, aby sme boli zdvorilí.“

„Túžiť po bezcitnej alebo náladovej kráske, to je pre idiotov. Šťastie nemá byť ani príliš pohodlné, ani príliš ťažké.“

„V hneve používame výrazy, ktoré popierajú naše srdce a nášho ducha.“

„Život je ako daromnica, do ktorej sme sa zamilovali, takže pristúpime na všetky podmienky, ktoré nám kladie, len aby nás neopustila.“

„Často som sa stretol so šťastím aj po niekoľkých neopatrných krokoch, ktoré ma mali zničiť, a hoci som vyslovil nedôveru, ďakujem Bohu za jeho milosrdenstvo. Ale ako kompenzácia ma postihlo strašné nešťastie v dôsledku akcií vyvolaných najopatrnejšou múdrosťou. To by ma pokorilo; napriek tomu, že som si bol vedomý toho, že som konal správne, by som z tohto presvedčenia ľahko získal útechu.“

“The happiest man is the one who knows how to obtain the greatest sum of happiness without ever failing in the discharge of his duties, and the most unhappy is the man who has adopted a profession in which he finds himself constantly under the sad necessity of foreseeing the future.”

“Even if astrology had been a real science, I knew nothing about it. We find countless events in real history which would never have occurred if they had not been predicted. This is because we are the authors of our so-called destiny, and all the 'antecedent necessities' of the Stoics are chimerical; the argument which proves the power of destiny seems strong only because it is sophistical. Cicero laughed at it. Someone whom he had invited to dinner, who had promised to go, and who had not appeared, wrote to him that since he had not gone it was evident that he had not been iturus ('going to go'). Cicero answers him: Veni ergo cras, et veni etiamsi venturus non sis ('Then come tomorrow, and come even if you are not going to come'). At this date, when I am conscious that I rely entirely on my common sense, I owe this explanation to my reader, despite the axiom, Fata viam inveniunt ('Destiny finds the way'). If the fatalists are obliged by their own philosophy to consider the concatenation of all events necessary, a parte ante ('a priori'), what remains of man's moral freedom is nothing; and in that case he can neither earn merit nor incur guilt. I cannot in conscience admit that I am a machine.”

“Since, though I do not repent my amorous exploits, I am far from wanting my example to contribute to the corruption of the fair sex, which deserves our homage for so many reasons, I hope that my observations will foster prudence in fathers and mothers and thus at least deserve their esteem.”

“Great God, and you witnesses of my death, I have lived as a philosopher, and I die as a Christian.”

“The spirit of rebellion is present in every great city, and the great task of wise government is to keep it dormant, for if it wakes it is a torrent which no dam can hold back.”

“[Matrimony] is the grave of love.”

“The man who forgets does not forgive, he only loses the remembrance of the harm inflicted on him; forgiveness is the offspring of a feeling of heroism, of a noble heart, of a generous mind, whilst forgetfulness is only the result of a weak memory, or of an easy carelessness, and still oftener of a natural desire for calm and quietness. Hatred, in the course of time, kills the unhappy wretch who delights in nursing it in his bosom.”

“Nothing is so catching as the plague; now, fanaticism, no matter of what nature, is only the plague of the human mind.”

“[T]hose who do not love [life] are unworthy of it.”

“Man is free; yet we must not suppose that he is at liberty to do everything he pleases, for he becomes a slave the moment he allows his actions to be ruled by passion. The man who has sufficient power over himself to wait until his nature has recovered its even balance is the truly wise man, but such beings are seldom met with.”

“When a sonnet is mediocre it is bad, for it should be sublime.”

“I loved, I was loved, my health was good, I had a great deal of money, and I spent it, I was happy and I confessed it to myself.”

“Learn from me that a wise man who has heard a criminal accusation related with so many absurd particulars ceases to be wise when he makes himself the echo of what he has heard, for if the accusation should turn out to be a calumny, he would himself become the accomplice of the slanderer.”

“One of the advantages of a great sorrow is that nothing else seems painful.”

“[Malipiero's advice to Casanova. ] If you wish your audience to cry, you must shed tears yourself, but if you wish to make them laugh you must contrive to look as serious as a judge.”

“[Marriage] is the tomb of love.”

“Man is free; but not unless he believes he is”

“If I had married a woman intelligent enough to guide me, to rule me without my feeling that I was ruled, I should have taken good care of my money, I should have had children, and I should not be, as now I am, alone in the world and possessing nothing.”

“This extremely interesting girl, after giving me a single glance from her beautiful eyes, stubbornly refused to look at me again. My vanity at once made me think that it was only so that I would be at full liberty to study her impeccable beauty. It was on this girl that I instantly set my sights, as if all Europe were only a seraglio provided for my pleasures.”

“I saw that everything famous and beautiful in the world, if we judge by the descriptions and drawings of writers and artists, always loses when we go to see it and examine it closely.”

“Should anyone bring against me an accusation of sensuality he would be wrong, for all the fierceness of my senses never caused me to neglect any of my duties.”

“Man is free, but his freedom ceases when he has no faith in it”

“Economy in pleasure is not to my taste.”

“I have always loved truth so passionately that I have often resorted to lying as a way of first introducing it into minds which were ignorant of its charms.”