Gondolas with Venice on the background.Image by Ingeborg Gärtner-Grein from Pixabay
The beauty of Venice, its uniqueness and its peculiar tradition are often depicted in famous quotes or ancient proverbs (Italian and not).
 
We’re using famous quotes about Venice as part of the introduction to each of the chatpers we’re writing and I’ve decided today to share with you some of them, along with a few local proverbs I find amusing.
 
Venice quotes
«If you read a lot, nothing is as great as you’ve imagined. Venice is — Venice is better.» Fran Lebowitz
 
«When I seek another word for ‘music’, I never find any other word than ‘Venice’». Friedrich Nietzsche
 
«Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go». Truman Capote
 
«This was Venice, the flattering and suspect beauty – this city, half fairy tale and half tourist trap, in whose insalubrious air the arts once rankly and voluptuously blossomed, where composers have been inspired to lulling tones of somniferous eroticism.» Thomas Mann
 
«An orange gem resting on a blue glass plate: it’s Venice seen from above.» Henry James- Aspern Papers
 
«The perennial wonder of Venice is to peer at herself in her canals and find that she exists – incredible as it seems. It is the same reassurance that a looking glass offers us: the guarantee that we are real» Mary McCarthy
 
«Venice is the most romantic place in the world but it’s even better when there is no one around». Woody Allen
 
Venice proverbs
“Quando Dio vol castigar un omo el ghe mete in testa de maridarse.” When God wants to punish a man, He put in his idea the idea of getting married.
 
“A tirarse sempre indrio se finise col culo in rio.” If you always chicken out, you’ll end up with your ass in the canal.
 
“Il saggio sà niente. L’intelligente sà poco. Lo stupido sà tanto. El mona sà tuto”. The wise man knows nothing. The smart man knows a little. The stupid man knows a lot. The dumbass knows everything.
 
“Tronba di culo, sanità di corpo”. Trumpet from the ass, health for the body.
 
“L’acqua marcisce i pali”. Water makes rotten wood (contrarily to alcohol, apparently).
 

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