Vittorio, Count Alfieri (1749–1803) was an Italian poet and playwright noted for his classical tragedies and political satires on the overthrow of tyranny. This “founder of Italian tragedy” aimed to provide Italy with dramas comparable to other European nations. Through his lyrics and dramas, he helped revive Italy’s national spirit. He earned the title of the precursor of the Risorgimento.
Born in Asti, near Piedmont, Count inherited a vast fortune at the age of 14 and traveled throughout Europe before turning his hand to writing, achieving great success with his first play, Cleopatra, in 1775. In Florence in 1777, he met Princess Louise of Stolberg-Gedern, the Countess of Albany, the estranged wife of Prince Charles Edward Stuart. After separating from her husband, she became his mistress.
Alfieri’s autobiography, Vita di Vittorio Alfieri scritta da esso (1804; The Life of Vittorio Alfieri Written by Himself,) is his chief prose. He also wrote sonnets, comedies, satires, and epigrams.
Gaudence Megaro wrote the biography Alfieri: Forerunner of Italian Nationalism (1930.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Vittorio Alfieri
Well does Heaven take care that no man secures happiness by crime.
—Vittorio Alfieri
First thoughts are not always the best.
—Vittorio Alfieri
Topics: Thoughts
Deep vengeance is the daughter of deep silence.
—Vittorio Alfieri
Topics: One liners
Disgrace is not in the punishment, but in the crime.
—Vittorio Alfieri
There is a silence, the child of love, which expresses everything, and proclaims more loudly than the tongue is able to do.
—Vittorio Alfieri
Topics: Silence
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
—Vittorio Alfieri
Topics: Thinking, Intelligence, Acceptance, Thoughts, Education
The guilty is he who meditates a crime; the punishment is his who lays the plot.
—Vittorio Alfieri
Topics: Guilt
Liars are always ready to take oaths.
—Vittorio Alfieri
Topics: Lies, Deception/Lying
Often the test of courage is not to die, but to live.
—Vittorio Alfieri
Topics: Bravery, Courage
Almost all my tragedies were sketched in my mind, either in the act of hearing music, or a few hours after.
—Vittorio Alfieri
Topics: Music
Heaven will permit no man to secure happiness by crime.
—Vittorio Alfieri
Topics: Crime
Original thoughts can be understood only in virtue of the unoriginal elements which they contain.
—Vittorio Alfieri
Topics: Thoughts
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