Quotes about Boccaccio

The same fact that Boccaccio offers in support of religion might be adduced in behalf of a republic: It exists in spite of its ministers."

Laughter, on the other hand, Petrarch went on, is an explosion that tears us away from the world and throws us back into our own cold solitude. Joking is a barrier between man and the world. Joking is the enemy of love and poetry. That's why I tell you yet again, and you want to keep in mind: Boccaccio doesn't understand love. Love can never be laughable. Love has nothing in common with laughter.