Inferno quotes
319 total quotesCanto XII
Canto XIII
Canto XV
Canto XXIV
Canto XXV
Canto XXVI
Canto XXVII
Canto XXVIII
Canto XXXIII
Canto XXXIV
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No and Yes within my head contend.
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Nor fondness for my son, nor reverenceFor my old father, nor the due affectionWhich joyous should have made Penelope,Could overcome within me the desireI had to be experienced of the world,And of the vice and virtue of mankind.
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Not only thy benignity gives succourTo him who asketh it, but oftentimesForerunneth of its own accord the asking.
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Note: Full inscription on the top of the gate. Often quoted with the translated form "Abandon hope all ye who enter here". The word "all" modifies hope, not those who enter: "ogni speranza" means "all hope".
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Now who art thou, that on the bench wouldst sitIn judgment at a thousand miles away,With the short vision of a single span?
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O Christians, arrogant, exhausted, wretched,Whose intellects are sick and cannot see,Who place your confidence in backward steps,Do you not know that we are worms and bornTo form the angelic butterfly that soars,Without defenses, to confront His judgment?Why does your mind presume to flight when youAre still like the imperfect grub, the wormBefore it has attained its final form?
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O conscience, upright and stainless, how bitter a sting to thee is little fault!
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O creatures imbecile,What ignorance is this which doth beset you?
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O Sun, that healest all distempered vision,Thou dost content me so, when thou resolvest,That doubting pleases me no less than knowing!
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Of those things only should one be afraidWhich have the power of doing others harm;Of the rest, no; because they are not fearful.
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One day, to pass the time away, we readof Lancelot—how love had overcome him.We were alone, and we suspected nothing.And time and time again that reading ledour eyes to meet, and made our faces pale,and yet one point alone defeated us.When we had read how the desired smilewas kissed by one who was so true a lover,this one, who never shall be parted from me,while all his body trembled, kissed my mouth.A Gallehault indeed, that book and hewho wrote it, too; that day we read no more.
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Pride, Envy, and Avarice arethe three sparks that have set these hearts on fire.
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So did my soul, that still was fleeing onward,Turn itself back to re-behold the passWhich never yet a living person left.(tr. Longfellow)
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That your art follows her so far as it can, as the disciple does the master, so that your art is as it were grandchild of God.
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The dames and cavaliers, the toils and easeThat filled our souls with love and courtesy,There where the hearts have so malicious grown!