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  • Rome quotes - Famous words on the eternal city

Rome Quotes
Famous Words on the Eternal City

I suspect every person on earth with just a little education can cite at least one quote on Rome. But there’s more to Rome quotes than the proverbial ‘When-Rome-falls-All-roads-lead-to-Rome-was-not-built-in-a-day-When-in-Rome’ trivia.

I love brilliant quotes, as my collection of Venice Quotes or Famous Words about the Gothic Cathedral in Milan goes to show. Here are some of favourite statements about the capital city located in Lazio:

Rome by the Romans

“I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.” Augustus (Roman Emperor 27 BC – AD 14)

Rome quotes - Famous words on the eternal city

Medieval perceptions of Rome

“Rome is the city of echoes, the city of illusions, and the city of yearning.” Giotto di Bondone (Italian painter and architect. Died 1337)

Rome in the eye of the Romantics

“Yes, I have finally arrived to this Capital of the World! I now see all the dreams of my youth coming to life… Only in Rome is it possible to understand Rome.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (German writer 1749-1832)

“When a man hath no freedom to fight for at home,
Let him combat for that of his neighbours;
Let him think of the glories of Greece and of Rome,
And get knocked on the head for his labours.”
George Gordon Byron (English poet 1788-1824)

”How is it possible to say an unkind or irreverential word of Rome? The city of all time, and of all the world!” Nathaniel Hawthorne  (American novelist. 1804-1864)

Enlightenment

“Rome – the city of visible history, where the past of a whole hemisphere seems moving in funeral procession with strange ancestral images and trophies gathered from afar.” George Eliot (English novelist 1819-1880)

“Every one soon or late comes round by Rome.” Robert Browning (English Poet 1812-1889)

”Here was Rome indeed at last; and such a Rome as no one can image in its full and awful grandeur! We wandered out upon the Appian Way, and then went on, through miles of ruined tombs and broken walls, with here and there a desolate uninhabited house: past the Circus of Romulus, where the course of the chariots, the stations of the judges, competitors, and spectators, are yet as plainly to be seen as in old time: past the tomb of Cecilia Metella: past all inclosure, hedge, or stake, wall or fence: away upon the open Campagna, where on that side of Rome, nothing is to be beheld but Ruin. Except where the distant Apennines bound the view upon the left, the whole wide prospect is one field of ruin. Broken aqueducts, left in the most picturesque and beautiful clusters of arches; broken temples; broken tombs. A desert of decay, somber and desolate beyond all expression; and with a history in every stone that strews the ground.” Charles Dickens (English author. 1812-1870)

“From the dome of St. Peter’s one can see every notable object in Rome… He can see a panorama that is varied, extensive, beautiful to the eye, and more illustrious in history than any other in Europe.” Mark Twain (American writer 1835-1910)

“She had always been fond of history, and here [in Rome] was history in the stones of the street and the atoms of the sunshine.”  Henry James (American writer. 1843-1916)

Rome quotes - Famous words on the eternal city

Modern Views on the Eternal City

“Rome’s just a city like anywhere else. A vastly overrated city, I’d say. It trades on belief just as Stratford trades on Shakespeare.” Anthony Burgess (English writer. 1917-1993)

“Rome was a poem pressed into service as a city.” Anatole Broyard (American writer 1920-1990)

”Rome is a place almost worn out by being looked at, a city collapsing under the weight of reference.” Graham Joyce (English writer. Born 1954)

“Italy has changed. But Rome is Rome.” Robert De Niro (American actor. Born 1943)

Other posts on writers view on Italy like “Rome quotes – Famous words on the eternal city”:

Italy and the fog metaphor

Carneval in Rome today and 165 years’ ago

Blue Grotto Capri: Magic blue behind crack in rock wall

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13 replies
  1. Sophie
    Sophie says:
    May 20, 2014 at 6:01 pm

    Dickens: I can’t quite decide whether he likes Rome or not…

    Reply
    • admin
      admin says:
      May 21, 2014 at 6:05 pm

      I’m quite partial to Dickens myself. He is always good for a laugh.

      Reply
  2. Laura @Travelocafe
    Laura @Travelocafe says:
    May 20, 2014 at 7:19 pm

    Oh, I love this collection of famous words from the eternal city.

    Reply
    • admin
      admin says:
      May 21, 2014 at 6:06 pm

      Thank you:)

      Reply
  3. Marcia
    Marcia says:
    May 21, 2014 at 2:56 am

    That’s a great quote from DeNiro. Rome is Rome.
    Thanks for sharing these, Mette. Didn’t realize so many people had an opinion on Rome, but it’s not surprising. Rome is, after all, the Eternal City.

    Reply
    • admin
      admin says:
      May 21, 2014 at 6:07 pm

      It is definitely an eternal subjects for aphorisms and clever sayings.

      Reply
  4. Maria Falvey
    Maria Falvey says:
    May 21, 2014 at 6:43 am

    Love the Byron, “When a man hath no freedom to fight for at home, Let him combat for that of his neighbours…” So much fun on your site Mette – Thanks!

    Reply
    • admin
      admin says:
      May 21, 2014 at 6:10 pm

      Yes that’s deep – though in the light of Iraq and Afghanistan I’m not so sure I agree.

      Reply
  5. Mary {The World Is A Book}
    Mary {The World Is A Book} says:
    May 23, 2014 at 6:36 am

    What a great quote collection! I’m not familiar with any of these but they made for a fun read and some are quite interesting. I like the Henry James one. I can certainly understand how Rome inspires so many people.

    Reply
    • admin
      admin says:
      May 28, 2014 at 6:32 pm

      Yes, and it’s amazing how much brain some people can flash in such a few lines.

      Reply
  6. Vivere l'italiano
    Vivere l'italiano says:
    September 18, 2014 at 9:35 am

    Very nice post, congratulations. For better or for worse, Rome is incredible, you cannot reamain indifferent when you stay there…

    Reply
    • Mette Vaabengaard
      Mette Vaabengaard says:
      September 21, 2014 at 10:30 am

      So true.

      Reply

Trackbacks & Pingbacks

  1. Lifeaholic Bee goes to the Eternal City – Lifeaholic Bee says:
    December 12, 2017 at 9:22 am

    […]           “From the dome of St. Peter’s one can see every notable object in Rome… He can see a panorama that is varied, extensive, beautiful to the eye, and more illustrious in history than any other in Europe.” Mark Twain (American writer 1835-1910) (taken from here) […]

    Reply

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