“It is more honorable to be raised to a throne than to be born to one. Fortune bestows the one, merit obtains the other.”
Other Petrarch Quotes
To begin with myself, then, the utterances of men concerning me will differ widely, since in passing judgment almost every one is influenced not so much by truth as by preference, and good and evil report alike know no bounds.
Petrarch 
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Often have I wondered with much curiosity as to our coming into this world and what will follow our departure.
Petrarch
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