Florence Quotes

• Everything about Florence seems to be colored with a mild violet, like diluted wine.

  Henry James

  Wine, Violet, Seems

  Henry James, Leon Edel (1987). “Henry James, Selected Letters”, p.51, Harvard University Press

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• In Paris, you learn wit, in London you learn to crush your social rivals, and in Florence you learn poise.

  Virgil Thomson

  Crush, Paris, Rivals

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• Florence - the city of tranquillity made manifest.

  Katherine Cecil Thurston

  Cities, Made, Manifest

  Katherine Cecil Thurston (1906). “The Gambler: A Novel”

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• And the voices in the waves are always whispering to Florence, in their ceaseless murmuring, of love - of love, eternal and illimitable, not bounded by the confines of this world, or by the end of time, but ranging still, beyond the sea, beyond the sky, to the invisible country far away!

  Charles Dickens

  Love, Country, Sea

  Charles Dickens (1867). “Charles Dickens's works. Charles Dickens ed. [18 vols. of a 21 vol. set. Wanting A child's history of England; Christmas stories; The mystery of Edwin Drood].”, p.502

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• To be in Florence is to reflect on Europe's intricate diversity - and its lost creativity.

  Timothy Garton Ash

  Creativity, Europe, Diversity

  "Like it or not, Europe is paying the transaction costs of diversity" by Timothy Garton Ash, www.theguardian.com. May 24, 2006.

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• This is the fairest picture on our planet, the most enchanting to look upon, the most satisfying to the eye and spirit. To see the sun sink down, drowned in his pink and purple and golden floods, and overwhelm Florence with tides of color that make all the sharp lines dim and faint and turn the solid city to a city of dreams, is a sight to stir the coldest nature, and make a sympathetic one drunk with ecstasy.

  Mark Twain

  Dream, Nature, Eye

  Mark Twain (2012). “Autobiography of Mark Twain: Volume 1, Reader’s Edition”, p.76, Univ of California Press

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• Florence and art is something that is part of my life and is part of myself.

  Roberto Cavalli

  Art, Art Is

  The CNN Interview, www.cnn.com. May 3, 2008.

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• In Florence, classical buildings sit against medieval buildings. It's that contrast we like.

  Richard Rogers

  Medieval, Building, Contrast

  "Interview: architects Richard Rogers, Graham Stirk and Ivan Harbour". Interview with Charlotte Higgins, www.theguardian.com. January 27, 2012.

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• Can she sing? She's practically a Florence Nightingale.

  Samuel Goldwyn

  Funny, Witty, Florence Nightingale

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• Rome is stately and impressive; Florence is all beauty and enchantment; Genoa is picturesque; Venice is a dream city; but Naples is simply -- fascinating.

  Lilian Whiting

  Dream, Rome, Cities

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• As her time in Florence drew to a close she was only at ease amongst those to whom she felt indifferent.

  E. M. Forster

  Travel, Ease, Indifferent

  E.M. Forster (2012). “A Room with a View”, p.53, Courier Corporation

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• Think of Florence, Paris, London, New York. Nobody visiting them for the first time is a stranger because he's already visited them in paintings, novels, history books and films. But if a city hasn't been used by an artist, not even the inhabitants live there imaginatively.

  Alasdair Gray

  New York, Book, Artist

  Alasdair Gray, Joy Hendry (1991). “Chapman”

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• It was pleasant to wake up in Florence, to open the eyes upon a bright bare room, with a floor of red tiles which look clean though they are not; with a painted ceiling whereon pink griffins and blue amorini sport in a forest of yellow violins and bassoons. It was pleasant, too, to fling wide the windows, pinching the fingers in unfamiliar fastenings, to lean out into sunshine with beautiful hills and trees and marble churches opposite, and, close below, Arno, gurgling against the embankment of the road.

  E. M. Forster

  Beautiful, Sports, Eye

  E. M. Forster (2013). “Delphi Collected Works of E. M. Forster (Illustrated)”, p.361, Delphi Classics

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• The most beautiful thing in Tokyo is McDonald's. The most beautiful thing in Stockholm is McDonald's. The most beautiful thing in Florence is McDonald's. Peking and Moscow don't have anything beautiful yet.

  Andy Warhol

  Beautiful, Mcdonalds, Moscow

  Andy Warhol (2014). “The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again”, p.84, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• IN MEMORIAM: FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE
  She whom we love, our Lady of Compassion,
  Can never die, for Love forbids her death.
  Love has bent down in his old kindly fashion,
  And breathed upon her his immortal breath.
  On wounded soldiers, in their anguish lying,
  Her gentle spirit shall descend like rain.
  Where the white flag with the red cross is flying,
  There shall she dwell, the vanquisher of pain.

  Joyce Kilmer

  Fashion, Pain, Lying

  Joyce Kilmer (1911). “Summer of Love”

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• Spending all my remaining money on a ticket to Florence was rendered needlessly complicated by the fact that none of the ticket-sellers had ever heard of the place. At last their supervisor showed up and set them straight by informing them that the city they had always referred to as 'Firenze' was in reality called Florence.

  Clive James

  Funny, Humorous, Italian

  Clive James (2009). “Falling Towards England”, p.106, Pan Macmillan

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• Although I studied Dante's Inferno as a student, it wasn't until recently, while researching in Florence, that I came to appreciate the enduring influence of Dante's work on the modern world.

  Dan Brown

  Appreciate, World, Students

  "Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code sequel Inferno revealed by readers" by Alison Flood, www.theguardian.com. January 15, 2013.

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• You look around the world at geniuses, and they don't appear randomly, they appear in genius clusters. Athens in 50 BC, Florence 1500, Silicon Valley today. This is not a coincidence.

  Eric Weiner

  Valleys, Looks, Genius

  "How your neighborhood coffee shop is brewing geniuses". Interview with Paul Solman, www.pbs.org. January 21, 2016.

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• Aeschylus and Plato are remembered today long after the triumphs of Imperial Athens are gone. Dante outlived the ambitions of thirteenth century Florence. Goethe stands serenely above the politics of Germany, and I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over cities, we too will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit.

  John F. Kennedy

  Plato, Ambition, Carpe Diem

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• Every artist wants his work to be permanent. But what is? The Aswan Dam covered some of the greatest art in the world. Venice is sinking. Great books and pictures were lost in the Florence floods. In the meantime we still enjoy butterflies.

  Romare Bearden

  Happiness, Time, Art

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• The interactions of business and culture, one upon the other, form one of the least explored phases of history. For such a study, no city would appear better fixed than Florence, so richly dowered with both economic and spiritual vitality.

  Mary Ritter Beard

  Spiritual, Cities, Vitality

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• I wear myself out trying to render the orange trees so that they're not stiff but like those I saw by Botticelli in Florence. It's a dream that won't come true.

  Berthe Morisot

  Dream, Orange, Tree

  Anne Higonnet, Berthe Morisot (1995). “Berthe Morisot”, p.199, Univ of California Press

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• The key to the city of Florence was about two feet long, and painted a garish gold. Hamilton was fascinated by it. "Wow! How big is the lock?" Jonah laughed. "There is no lock, cuz. It's an honorary gig. Back in my crib in LA, I've got a whole shed full of keys from different cities. Want to know the kicker? I can't get at them. The gardener lost the key to the shed.

  Gordon Korman

  Keys, Cities, Two

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• When rivers flooded, when fire fell from the sky, what a fine place the library was, the many rooms, the books. With luck, no one found you. How could they!--when you were off to Tanganyika in '98, Cairo in 1812, Florence in 1492!?

  Ray Bradbury

  Book, Fire, Sky

  Ray Bradbury (1962). “Something wicked this way comes: a novel”, Bantam

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• I do quite like sightseeing. I like churches, museums, galleries and all that stuff. I love the smell of a church in Italy or the smell of an old greasy spoon somewhere. I like markets and little funny shops in the backstreets of Florence.

  Ashley Jensen

  Museums, Smell, Church

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