AI-generated dramatization art: a quill pen in an inkwell beside a candle and manuscript paper — AI-generated dramatization art — not a historical depiction. Quill, inkwell, and candlelight: the tools of *Histoire de ma vie*.

Quotes

His words, verbatim and cited. Nothing here is paraphrased as quotation.

Translation note. The English quotations below are verbatim from Arthur Machen's 1894 translation of the memoirs (Project Gutenberg ebooks 2951 and 2960), which is in the public domain. Machen translated the expurgated 19th-century French text, not Casanova's manuscript — so these are verbatim Machen, one step removed from verbatim Casanova. Where the French original is famous, it is given too.

On beginning the memoirs

“I will begin with this confession: whatever I have done in the course of my life, whether it be good or evil, has been done freely; I am a free agent.”

— Memoirs, preface (Machen trans., 1894; Gutenberg ebook 2951).

On his philosophy of life

“The reader of these Memoirs will discover that I never had any fixed aim before my eyes, and that my system, if it can be called a system, has been to glide away unconcernedly on the stream of life, trusting to the wind wherever it led.”

— Memoirs, preface (Machen trans., 1894; Gutenberg ebook 2951).

On fortune and imprudence

“I have often met with happiness after some imprudent step which ought to have brought ruin upon me, and although passing a vote of censure upon myself I would thank God for his mercy.”

— Memoirs, preface (Machen trans., 1894; Gutenberg ebook 2951).

On freedom and passion

“Man is free; yet we must not suppose that he is at liberty to do everything he pleases, for he becomes a slave the moment he allows his actions to be ruled by passion.”

— Memoirs, preface (Machen trans., 1894; Gutenberg ebook 2951).

On meeting Voltaire

“‘M. de Voltaire,’ said I, ‘this is the happiest moment of my life. I have been your pupil for twenty years, and my heart is full of joy to see my master.’”

— Memoirs, “With Voltaire” (Machen trans., 1894; Gutenberg ebook 2965). The Ferney visit, August 1760, as Casanova tells it.

On the escape — his farewell letter from the Piombi

“Our lords of state are bound to do all in their power to keep a prisoner under the Leads, and on the other hand the prisoner, who is fortunately not on parole, is bound also to make his escape. Their right to act thus is founded on justice, while the prisoner follows the voice of nature; and since they have not asked him whether he will be put in prison, so he ought not to ask them leave to escape.”

— Memoirs, “under the Leads” (Machen trans., 1894; Gutenberg ebook 2960). Dated in the text “an hour before midnight… on October 31st, 1756.”

Circulated but unverified

The following are widely attributed to Casanova but could not be verified verbatim against the public-domain English text or the standard French editions consulted for this site. They are included so readers can see exactly where the evidence stops:

“Love is three quarters curiosity.” — Ubiquitous on quotation sites; no verbatim match found in the Machen translation volumes consulted. Treat as unattributed unless a sourced citation appears.
“I have lived as a philosopher, and die as a Christian.” — Reported as his last words; no contemporary source confirms them. Treat as legend.

Source notes

All verified quotations were checked character-for-character against the Project Gutenberg texts (ebooks 2951, 2960, 2965) during the build of this site; line breaks in the source were joined without altering punctuation or wording.
The “unverified” list reflects searches of the same corpus plus the standard quotation references; absence from the consulted texts is not proof he never wrote the words, only that no verified source was found.