Ma cos'è mai la storia, diceva spesso don Ferrante, senza la politica? Una guida che cammina, cammina, con nessuno dietro che impari la strada, e per conseguenza butta via i suoi passi; come la politica senza la storia è uno che cammina senza guida.
• Variant translation:" - Meaning and context.">
QuotesCosmos
But what is history, Don Ferrante would often say, without politics? A guide who walks on and on with no one following to learn the road, so that his every step is wasted; just as politics without history is like a man who walks along without a guide.
 • Ch. 27, p. 374
 • "But," said he often, "what is history without politics? a guide who conducts without teaching any one the way; as politics without history, is a man without a guide to conduct him."
 • Richard Bentley translation (1834)
“

Ma cos'è mai la storia, diceva spesso don Ferrante, senza la politica? Una guida che cammina, cammina, con nessuno dietro che impari la strada, e per conseguenza butta via i suoi passi; come la politica senza la storia è uno che cammina senza guida.
• Variant translation:

— Alessandro Manzoni

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Ma cos'è mai la storia, diceva spesso don Ferrante, senza la politica? Una guida che cammina, cammina, con nessuno dietro che impari la strada, e per conseguenza butta via i suoi passi; come la politica senza la storia è uno che cammina senza guida.
• Variant translation:" in the context of "But what is history, Don Ferrante would often say, without politics? A guide who walks on and on with no one following to learn the road, so that his every step is wasted; just as politics without history is like a man who walks along without a guide.
 • Ch. 27, p. 374
 • "But," said he often, "what is history without politics? a guide who conducts without teaching any one the way; as politics without history, is a man without a guide to conduct him."
 • Richard Bentley translation (1834)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Alessandro Manzoni" (Quotes, The Betrothed (1827; 1842): I promessi sposi, [The Betrothed]; Manzoni's first version of this story was written between April 1821 and September 1823 and titled Fermo e Lucia. He then heavily revised and finished it as Gli sposi promessi in August 1825; after two years of corrections and proof-checking, it was first published as I promessi sposi in 1827. Manzoni afterwards revised this into the dialect of Florence for the final revision published in 1842. English quotations and page-numbers are taken from the translation of Archibald Colquhoun (1956), unless otherwise indicated. · The Betrothed (1834), as published by Richard Bentley ) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

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Alessandro Manzoni

About Alessandro Manzoni

Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Manzoni (7 March 1785 – 22 May 1873) was an Italian novelist, poet, dramatist and critic, most famous for his novel I promessi sposi (The Betrothed).