Vinnie the Gooch

Petr Chelčický

“Unequal abilities developed inequalities of power, privilege, finally of goods, and the apostles of peace and freedom were replaced by ruthless lawgivers wielding despotic force.” Bohemian Czech attempt at communism ~1430’s Durant - The Reformation Vol. VI - VIII - Pg. 170

“(Printing) did not produce the Renaissance, but it paved the way for the Enlightenment, for the American and French Revolutions… made the Bible a common possession and prepared the people for Luther’s appeal.” Gutenberg 1450’s Durant - The Reformation Vol. VI - VII - Pg. 160

“The Papacy had to govern states as well as the Church; the popes had to be men of affairs with at least one foot in the world, and could rarely afford to be saints.” Early 1400’s Durant - The Reformation Vol. VI - I - Pg. 11

“Our knowledge is a receding mirage in an expanding desert of ignorance.” The horizon of the unknown grows with the frontier of discovery Durant - The Reformation Vol. VI - I - Pg. 3

“(Italian Renaissance was) a hollow fabric of precarious power unsupported by inner strength, and ready to fall into ruins at the touch of a merciless rabble, or at the distant cry of an obscure and angry monk” Durant - The Renaissance Vol. V - Envoi - Pg. 726

“It is easier to rule a state in its decline than in its youth; diminished vitality almost welcomes subjugation.” Florence after decades of turmoil accepting the second Cosimo de Medici, 1540’s-1570’s Durant - The Renaissance Vol. V - XXIII - Pg. 699

@CorneliaLake Jim Metcalfe from Alinda… legend

There were two dedicated M&A bankers in my group at Lehman. The literally perfect banker name of Keith Lord (he had a Queens English accent too) and still respectable banking name of Jim Metcalfe. Their two rules for success: 1. Deadlines drive all decisions 2. The odds of any M&A deal being consummated on the day you are supposed to sign the docs at the lawyers office are 50/50 at best

“Pope Clement (Giulio de Medici) did not die until he made one more reversal of policy, and had crowned his disasters by losing England for the Church (1531).” Durant - The Renaissance Vol. V - XXI - Pg. 644

“But the soul of the great creed (Christianity) had been pierced with the arrows of doubt; and the splendor of the medieval myth had been tarnished by its accumulated gold.” Italian corruption Durant - The Renaissance Vol. V - XIX - Pg. 544

“Luther claimed to have found a saying current among the educated classes in Italy on going to Mass: ‘Come let us conform to the popular error.’” Italian attitudes mid 1500’s Durant - The Renaissance Vol. V - XIX - Pg. 543

“Piero, aged fifty, succeeded to his (Cosimo’s) wealth, his authority, and his gout. Even from boyhood this disease of the prosperous had afflicted Piero, so that his contemporaries called him Il Gottoso” On Cosimo’s son Piero Durant - The Renaissance Vol. V - III - Pg. 110

“Padre Patriae, Father of His Country. With him the Renaissance lifted its head; under his great-grandson it conquered Rome. Many sins may be forgiven to such a dynasty.” On Cosimo de Medici Durant - The Renaissance Vol. V - III - Pg. 109

“He hoped to negotiate a peace between Galeazzo II Visconti and Pope Urban V, only to learn that eloquence without guns finds no ears among diplomats” Petrarch 1368 in Pavia near Milan Durant - The Renaissance Vol. V - I - Pg. 42

“As the state had not yet discovered the plan of public borrowing to conceal its wastefulness & postpone its reckoning, the cost of each year’s operations had to be met from each year’s revenue” Economy under Diocletian 301 AD Durant - Caesar & Christ Vol. III - XXIX - Pg. 643

“Military service was made compulsory, but was forbidden to inhabitants of Italy; henceforth provincial legions would choose emperors for a Rome that had lost the fortitude to rule” Durant - Caesar & Christ Vol. III - XXIX - Pg. 621

“Rome died giving birth to the Church; the Church matured by inheriting and accepting the responsibilities of Rome” Durant - Caesar & Christ Vol. III - XXVIII - Pg. 619

“A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within” Durant - Caesar & Christ Vol. III - Epilogue - Pg. 665

“Paulus the aristocrat counseled caution; Varro of the plebs was all for action; and as usual, caution lost the argument” Italy 216 just before Rome got smashed by Hannibal at Cannae Durant - Caesar & Christ Vol. III - Ch. III - Pg. 50

“We’ll never do justice to the Middle Ages until we see the Italian Renaissance not as their repudiation but as their fulfillment” Durant - The Age of Faith Vol. IV - Epilogue - Pg. 1085