Pietro Aretino

"A high heart ought to bear calamities and not flee them, since in bearing them appears the grandeur of the mind and in fleeing them the cowardice of the heart. "

"I love you, and because I love you, I would sooner have you hate me for telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies. "

"Nothing, it appears to me is of greater value in a man than the power of judgement and the man who has it may be compared to a chest fulled with books, for he is the son of nature and the father of art. "