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Time & Perspective Quote by Giacomo Casanova

"By recollecting the pleasures I have had formerly, I renew them, I enjoy them a second time, while I laugh at the remembrance of troubles now past, and which I no longer feel"

About this Quote

Memory is Casanova's most portable luxury: a way to turn time into a repeatable indulgence. The line is engineered like one of his seductions, starting with pleasure and ending with the cool triumph of distance. He isn't just reminiscing; he's describing a technique. Recollection becomes a second consumption, proof that experience can be hoarded and re-spent. For a professional adventurer who lived by appetite and improvisation, that matters. The past isn't a moral ledger. It's a private archive of sensations.

The subtext is cheekier than it looks. Casanova isn't claiming wisdom; he's claiming immunity. Troubles become funny once they're safely packaged as anecdotes. That laugh is a flex: the speaker has survived, and survival turns misfortune into entertainment. It's also a quiet confession of dependence. If you need to "renew" pleasures, you're admitting how quickly they fade in real time. Memory becomes the afterparty that never ends.

Context sharpens it. Casanova wrote his memoirs late, often in exile, living on reputation as much as money. His fame was built on immediacy - the body, the gamble, the chase - yet here he stakes out a different kind of sensuality, one available when youth and access tighten. The sentence sells an ethic of self-authorship: you can curate your life by choosing what to replay and what to mock. That's not enlightenment; it's brand management before the word existed.

Quote Details

TopicNostalgia
SourceHelp us find the source
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Casanova, Giacomo. (2026, January 18). By recollecting the pleasures I have had formerly, I renew them, I enjoy them a second time, while I laugh at the remembrance of troubles now past, and which I no longer feel. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/by-recollecting-the-pleasures-i-have-had-formerly-4538/

Chicago Style
Casanova, Giacomo. "By recollecting the pleasures I have had formerly, I renew them, I enjoy them a second time, while I laugh at the remembrance of troubles now past, and which I no longer feel." FixQuotes. January 18, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/by-recollecting-the-pleasures-i-have-had-formerly-4538/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"By recollecting the pleasures I have had formerly, I renew them, I enjoy them a second time, while I laugh at the remembrance of troubles now past, and which I no longer feel." FixQuotes, 18 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/by-recollecting-the-pleasures-i-have-had-formerly-4538/. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.

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About the Author

Giacomo Casanova

Giacomo Casanova (April 2, 1725 - June 4, 1798) was a Celebrity from Italy.

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