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Quote by Baldassare Castiglione

Work

The Book of the Courtier

Written by Baldassare Castiglione, this seminal work offers insights into the role and responsibilities of a courtier during the Renaissance period in Italy. It delves into the intricacies of court life, including the importance of grace, wit, and moral integrity in the service of a ruler. more

Author

Baldassare Castiglione
Baldassare Castiglione

Baldassare Castiglione was an Italian diplomat and writer, renowned for his work 'The Book of the Courtier'. He was born on December 6, 1478, and died on February 2, 1529. more

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“Then the soul, freed from vice, purged by studies of true philosophy, versed in spiritual life, and practised in matters of the intellect, devoted to the contemplation of her own substance, as if awakened from deepest sleep, opens those eyes which all possess but few use, and sees in herself a ray of that light which is the true image of the angelic beauty communicated to her, and of which she then communicates a faint shadow to the body.”

“I have discovered a universal rule which seems to apply more than any other in all human actions or words: namely, to steer away from affectation at all costs, as if it were a rough and dangerous reef, and (to use perhaps a novel word for it) to practise in all things a certain nonchalance [sprezzatura] which conceals all artistry and makes whatever one says or does seem uncontrived and effortless.”

“I make one image—though 'make' is not the right word; I let, perhaps, an image be 'made' emotionally in me and then apply to it what intellectual & critical forces I possess—let it breed another, let that image contradict the first, make, of the third image bred out of the other two together, a fourth contradictory image, and let them all, within my imposed formal limits, conflict.”