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Quotations page

In this page, you can find a few quotations from Dante’s work, grouped according to their topic and each one followed by a paraphrase written in English. Before you begin reading them, I’d like to state some notes:

Now, you can begin browsing this page. Below you find the list of the topics. Click one to read one or more quotations.

Art

Vero è che, come forma non s’accorda
molte fiate a l’intenzion de l’arte,
perch’a risponder la materia è sorda.

[Many times the matter can’t be molded by the artist as he wants, because it opposes to the intentions of the artist]
Divina Commedia, Paradiso, I, 127–129

Se mai continga che ’l poema sacro
al quale ha posto mano cielo e terra,
sì che m’ha fatto per molti anni macro,
vinca la crudeltà che fuor mi serra
del bello ovile ov’io dormi’ agnello,
nimico ai lupi che li danno guerra.

[May this poem, written with a lot of effort according to theology and philosophy, overcome the wickedness which obliges me to stay far away from the town where I spent my life being against the ones who didn’t love my homeland.]
Divina Commedia, Paradiso, XXV, 1–5

Cowardice

Ed elli a me: "Questo misero modo
tegnon l’anime triste di coloro
che visser sanza ’nfamia e sanza lodo."

[And he said to me: "Here, there are the souls of the ones who lived without doing neither good nor bad things"]
Divina Commedia, Inferno, III, 34–36

Poscia ch’io v’ebbi alcun riconosciuto,
vidi e conobbi l’ombra di colui
che fece per viltade il gran rifiuto.

[After my recognizing several ones, I saw and recognized the soul of the one who refused the papacy because of cowardice]
Divina Commedia, Inferno, III, 58–60

Earth

L’aiuola che ci fa tanto feroci.

[The flower bed which makes us so cruel]
Divina Commedia, Paradiso, XXII, 151

Exile

Quidni? Nonne solis astrorumque specula ubique conspiciam? Nonne dulcissimas veritates potero speculari ubique sub celo, ni prius inglorium ymo ignominiosum populo Florentineque civitati me reddam? Quippe nec panis deficiet.

[Won’t I be able to see the sun and the stars anywhere else? Won’t I be able to look for the sweet truth under any sky if I don’t first become hateful, or better miserable to the Florentine people and to the city of Florence? Also the bread won’t be lacking.]
Epistles, IX

Tu proverai sì come sa di sale
lo pane altrui, e come è duro calle
lo scender e ’l salir per l’altrui scale.

[You will experience how bitter is the bread of the foreign people and how hard is to go up and down the stairs of the foreigners]
Divina Commedia, Paradiso, XVII, 58–60

Faith [in God]

Fede è sustanza di cose sperate
e argomento de le non parventi;
e questa pare a me sua quiditate.

[The faith is the foundation of what you hope and the firm belief of what you can’t see; and I think that’s its essence]
Divina Commedia, Paradiso, XXIV, 64–66

Faithfulness

Fede portai al glorioso offizio,
tanto ch’io ne perde’ li sonni e’ polsi.

[I did my job so faithfully that I lost my peace and my life]
Divina Commedia, Inferno, XIII, 62–63

Fantasy

Oh quanto è corto il dire e come fioco
al mio concetto!

[Oh, how faint and ineffective are the words to express my idea!]
Divina Commedia, Paradiso, XXXIII, 121–122

A l’alta fantasia qui mancò possa.

[Here, the high imagination fainted]
Divina Commedia, Paradiso, XXXIII, 142

Fate

Che giova nelle fata dar di cozzo?

[It’s useless to fidget when the destiny rules]
Divina Commedia, Inferno, IX, 97

Ed egli a me: "Se tu segui tua stella,
non puoi fallire a glorioso porto."

[If you follow your natural bent, you will definitely go to Heaven]
Divina Commedia, Inferno, XV, 55–56

Firmness

Vien dietro a me, e lascia dir le genti:
sta come torre ferma, che non crolla
già mai la cima per soffiar di venti.

[Follow me, and let the people speak: stay still like a tower which doesn’t collapse when a strong wind blows.]
Divina Commedia, Purgatorio, V, 13–15

Freedom

Libertà va cercando, ch’è sì cara,
come sa chi per lei vita rifuta.

[He’s looking for freedom, which is very beloved by who dies for it.]
Divina Commedia, Purgatorio, I, 71–72

Friendship

Non dee l’uomo, per maggiore amico, dimenticare li servigi ricevuti dal minore.

[The man must not forget the favors gotten from a less important friend when he becomes friend of a more important one]
Convivio, II, 15

God

Orribil furon li peccati miei;
ma la bontà infinita ha sì gran braccia,
che prende ciò che si rivolge a lei.

[My sins were dreadful, but the infinite goodness of God forgives anyone asking Him.]
Divina Commedia, Purgatorio, III, 121–123

L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.

[The love which moves the sun and the other stars]
Divina Commedia, Paradiso, XXXIII, 145

Good and Bad

Lume v’è dato a bene e a malizia.

[You have been given reason, which can distinguish between bad and good]
Divina Commedia, Purgatorio, XVI, 75

Hell

Lasciate ogni speranza, o voi ch’entrate.

[Do leave any hope, you entering]
Divina Commedia, Inferno, III, 9

Italy

Ahi serva Italia, di dolore ostello,
nave sanza nocchiere in gran tempesta,
non donna di province, ma bordello!

[Oh, enslaved Italy, place of sorrow, ship without captain in a storm, not respectable lady but place of corruption]
Divina Commedia, Purgatorio, VI, 76–78

Knowledge

Vincer potero dentro a me l’ardore
ch’i’ ebbi a divenir del mondo esperto
e de li vizi umani e del valore.

[They couldn’t stop my strong desire to know the world and the vices and the virtues of the mankind]
Divina Commedia, Inferno, XXVI, 97–99

State contenti, umana gente, al quia;
ché, se potuto aveste veder tutto,
mestier non era parturir Maria.

[You must be satisfied to know how the things are, because, if you could have known everything, the Virgin wouldn’t have had to give birth to Jesus]
Divina Commedia, Purgatorio, III, 37–42

Frate, la nostra volontà quïeta
virtù di carità, che fa volerne
sol quel ch’avemo, e d’altro non ci asseta.

[Brother, the virtue stops our will, so that we only desire what we have, and nothing else]
Divina Commedia, Paradiso, III, 70–72

Apri la mente a quel ch’io ti paleso
e fermalvi entro; ché non fa scienza,
senza lo ritenere, avere inteso.

[Open you mind, listen to what I’m going to tell you and remember it, because you don’t really know a thing if you only have understood it, but you must also remember it]
Divina Commedia, Paradiso, V, 40–42

Laws

Le leggi son, ma chi pon mano ad esse?

[There are the laws, but who commands respect to them?]
Divina Commedia, Purgatorio, XVI, 97

Laziness

"Omai convien che tu così ti spoltre",
disse ’l maestro; "ché, seggendo in piuma,
in fama non si vien, né sotto coltre."

["Now, it’s time you hurry up", told my teacher, "because if you are comfortably seated or in you bed you can’t become a great person"]
Divina Commedia, Inferno, XXIV, 47–49

Life and Death

Del viver ch’è un correre a la morte.

[The life, which is running to death]
Divina Commedia, Purgatorio, XXXIII, 54

Love

Amore e ’l cor gentil sono una cosa.

[Love and kind heart are the same thing]
Vita Nuova, XX, 3

Amor, che al cor gentil ratto s’apprende,
prese costui della bella persona
che mi fu tolta; e il modo ancor m’offende.
Amore, che a nullo amato amar perdona,
mi prese del costui piacer sì forte,
che, come vedi, ancor non m’abbandona.

[Love, which quickly enters any kind heart, made him fall in love with me through my beauty, which I have no more, and the fact still hurts me. Love, which obliges anybody loved to return the love, took me through his beauty so strongly that it is still with me.]
Divina Commedia, Inferno, V, 100–105

... conosco i segni dell’antica fiamma

[I recognize the marks of the old flame [of love]]
Divina Commedia, Purgatorio, XXX, 48

Nobility

La stirpe non fa le singulari persona nobili, ma le singulari persona fanno nobile la stirpe.

[The birth doesn’t make a person a nobleman, but a great person makes noble a birth]
Convivio, IV, 20

Peace

Unde manifestum est quod pax universalis est optimum eorum quae ad nostram beatitudinem ordinantur.

[So, it’s clear that the universal peace is the best thing among the ones which gives happiness to the mankind]
Monarchia, I, 4

Poet

E io a lui: "I’ mi son un che, quando
Amor mi spira, noto, e a quel modo
ch’e’ ditta dentro vo significando."

[And I said to him: "I’m one who writes when Love inspires me, and I write exactly what it tells"]
Divina Commedia, Purgatorio, XXIV, 52–54

Sorrow

E quella a me: "Nessun maggior dolore
che ricordarsi del tempo felice
ne la miseria; e ciò sa ’l tuo dottore."

[And she said to me: "There’s nothing more painful than remembering something happy while you are distressed; and your teacher knows it."]
Divina Commedia, Inferno, V, 121–123

Soul

Esce di mano a lui che la vagheggia
prima che sia, a guisa di fanciulla,
che piangendo e ridendo pargoleggia,
l’anima semplicetta che sa nulla,
salvo che, mossa da lieto fattore,
volentier torna a ciò che la trastulla.

[The soul, which knows nothing yet, except that it wants to come back to God who has created it, exits from the hands of God like a young girl.]
Divina Commedia, Purgatorio, XVI, 85–90

Suicide

L’animo mio, per disdegnoso gusto,
credendo col morir fuggir disdegno,
ingiusto fece me contra me giusto.

[I was very upset and I believed to avoid the scorn of the other people by dying; so I committed suicide]
Divina Commedia, Inferno, XIII, 70–72

Time

Ché perder tempo a chi più sa più spiace.

[The more you are learned, the more you dislike losing your time]
Divina Commedia, Purgatorio, III, 78

Vassene ’l tempo e l’uom non se n’avvede.

[The time goes away and the man doesn’t notice it]
Divina Commedia, Purgatorio, IV, 9