quote · Words worth keeping
But only he whose judgment never strays Beyond the threshold of the right, learns this— Not always is it good to have one's wish; What seemeth sweet full oft to bitter turns; Fulfilled desire hath made mine eyes to weep. Therefore, O reader of these lines, if thou Would'st virtuous be, and held by others dear Will ever for the power to do aright.
But only he whose judgment never strays Beyond the threshold of the right, learns this— Not always is it good to have one's wish; What seemeth sweet full oft to bitter turns; Fulfilled desire hath made mine eyes to weep. Therefore, O reader of these lines, if thou Would'st virtuous be, and held by others dear Will ever for the power to do aright.
Approximate author period: c. 1485 AD · medieval
Meaning not yet available
This entry is preserved in the wider collection, but an individual explanation has not yet been added. We do not substitute a generic description for an interpretation of these particular words.
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- Author or tradition
- Leonardo da Vinci
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 1485 AD · medieval
author lifetime midpoint (1452–1519)
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- The Optimist’s Good Morning (1911) (1911 AD)
Complete signed selection 81; printed byline: Leonardo da Vinci; Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1911; printed copyright 1907
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
The voice behind the words.
Represented by the complete source-numbered selections in Thoughts on Art and Life, Maurice Baring’s1906English translation, edited by Lewis Einstein. The catalogue records1452–1519; the historical collection is a selection from notebooks, not a continuous book composed by Leonardo or independent authentication of every attributed passage.
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