Dante Alighieri Quotes

Do not be afraid; our fate Cannot be taken from us; it is a gift.

In each fire there is a spirit; Each one is wrapped in what is burning him.

Behold a God more powerful than I who comes to rule over me.

But already my desire and my will were being turned like a wheel, all at one speed, by the Love which moves the sun and the other stars

They find seven cornices on which penitent and redeemed sinners are cleansed by the grace of God. On the first cornice, that of Pride, the proud are learning humility: Our Father, dwelling in the Heavens, nowise As circumscribed, but as the things above, Thy first effects, are dearer in Thine eyes, Hallowed Thy name be and the Power thereof, By every creature, as right meet it is We praise the tender effluence of Thy love. Let come to us, let come Thy kingdom's peace.

Fame is not won on downy plumes nor under canopies; the man who consumes his days without obtaining it leaves such mark of himself on earth as smoke in air or foam on water.

...Everything that is, desires to be. As we act, we unfold our being. Enjoyment naturally follows, for a thing desired always brings delight.

As phantoms frighten beasts when shadows fall.

Justice does not descend from its own pinnacle.

The day that man allows true love to appear, those things which are well made will fall into cofusion and will overturn everything we believe to be right and true.

If the present world go astray, the cause is in you, in you it is to be sought.

Love, that exempts no one beloved from loving, seized me with pleasure of this man so strongly, that, as thou seest, it doth not yet desert me.

And here Dante describes an evidently spherical world... "The lamp of the world [the sun] rises to mortals through different passages; but through that which joins four circles with three crosses [the position of the rising sun at the vernal equinox] it issues with a better course and conjoined with better stars, and tempers and stamps the wax of the world more after its own fashion. Although such an outlet had made morning there and evening here, and all the hemisphere there was bright, and the other dark..."

The well heeded well heard.

What shall one do with the verse, if he knows not That?

Oh blind! Oh ignorant, self-seeking cupidity which spurs us so in the short mortal life and steeps us so through all eternity!

The secret of getting things done is to act!

Thou shall know by experience how salt the savor is of others' bread, and how sad a path it is to climb and descend another's stairs.

For where the instrument of intelligence is added to brute power and evil will, mankind is powerless in its own defense.

The wisest are the most annoyed at the loss of time.

There is a gentle thought that often springs to life in me, because it speaks of you.

The glory of Him who moves everything penetrates through the universe, and is resplendent in one part more and in another less.

Perceive ye not that we are worms, designed To form the angelic butterfly, that goes To judgment, leaving all defence behind? Why doth your mind take such exalted pose, Since ye, disabled, are as insects, mean As worm which never transformation knows?

No sadness is greater than in misery to rehearse memories of joy.

Mankind is at its best when it is most free. This will be clear if we grasp the principle of liberty. We must recall that the basic principle is freedom of choice, which saying many have on their lips but few in their minds.

Without hope we live in desire.

At the midpoint on the journey of life, I found myself in a dark forest, for the clear path was lost.

If i thought i was replying to someone who would every return to the world, this flame would cease it's flickering. But since no one has returned from these depths alive, if what I've heard is true, I will answer you without fear of infamy.

Here we find the moat of thieves. And just as a lizard, with a quick, slick slither, Flicks across the highway from hedge to hedge, Fleeter than a flash, in the battering dog-day weather, A fiery little monster, livid, in a rage, Black as any peppercorn, came and made a dart At the guts of the others, and leaping to engage One of the pair, it pierced him at the part Through which we first draw food; then loosed its grip And fell before him, outstretched and apart.

From a little spark may burst a flame.

O foolish anxiety of wretched man, how inconclusive are the arguments which make thee beat thy wings below!

As, pricked out with less and greater lights, between the poles of the universe, the Milky Way so gleameth white as to set very sages questioning.

He who sees a need and waits to be asked for help is as unkind as if he had refused it.

Unity in wills cannot be unless there is one will dominating and ruling all the rest to oneness... wills of mortals have need of a directive principle... therefore for the well-being of the world, there should be a monarchy.

How come I never meet any nice girls?

In judgement be ye not too confident, Even as a man who will appraise his corn When standing in a field, ere it is ripe.

And as he, who with laboring breath has escaped from the deep to the shore, turns to the perilous waters and gazes.

The heavens call to you, and circle about you, displaying to you their eternal splendors, and your eye gazes only to earth.

Seldom indeed does human virtue rise From trunk to branch.

Doubting pleases me no less than knowing

"The love of God, unutterable and perfect, flows into a pure soul the way light rushes into a transparent object. The more love that it finds, the more it gives itself: so that, as we grow clear and open, the more complete the joy of heaven is. And the more souls who resonate together, the greater the intensity of their love, and, mirror like, each soul reflects the other.

Three things remain with us from paradise: stars, flowers and children.

Love kindled by virtue always kindles another, provided that its flame appear outwardly.

e quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle" ("and thence we came forth to see again the stars")

Often a retrospect delights the mind.

I was so full of sleep at the time that I left the true way.

Compassion is not a passion; rather a noble disposition of the soul, made ready to receive love, mercy, and other charitable passions.

Like the lark that soars in the air, first singing, then silent, content with the last sweetness that satiates it, such seemed to me that image, the imprint of the Eternal Pleasure.