The collection / 69 fragments

The living archive

Passages, proverbs, and questions carried across the ages.

SearchTypeTopicEraCulture / collection labelCountry attributionTraditionOrder

Author

Leave empty for every voice. Browse all authors ↗

Reset

Culture labels and country attributions follow the source collections; earliest origins may be unknown.

69 results · Page 2 of 3Play this collection ▷

01Undated

For certain he hath seen all perfectnessFor certain he hath seen all perfectness. Who among other ladies hath seen mine: They that go with her humbly should combine To thank their God for such peculiar grace. So perfect is the beauty of her face That it begets in no wise any sign Of envy, but draws round her a clear line Of love, and blessed faith, and gentleness. Merely the sight of her inakes all things bow: Not she herself alone is holier Than all: but hers, through her, are raised above. From all her acts such lovely graces flow That truly one may never think of her Without a passion of exceeding love.

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗

02Undated

If you, free as you are of every weighthad stayed below, then that would be as strangeas living flame on earth remaining still."And then she turned her gaze up toward the heavens.

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗

03Undated

Fate's arrow, when expected, travels slow.

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗

04Undated

Put off this sloth,' the master said, 'for shame!Sitting on feather-pillows, lying reclined Beneath the blanket is no way to fame -Fame, without which man's life wastes out of mind, Leaving on earth no more memorialThan foam in water or smoke upon the wind

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗

05Undated

Come on, shake off the covers of this sloth, for sitting softly cushioned, or tucked in bed, is no way to win fame.

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗

06Undated

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗

07Undated

The experience of this sweet life.

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗

08Undated

High justice would in no way be debased if ardent love should cancel instantly the debts these penitents must satisfy.

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗

09Undated

The path to paradise begins in hell.

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗

10Undated

Heaven wheels above you, displaying to you her eternal glories, and still your eyes are on the ground

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗

11Undated

That infinite and indescribable good which is there above races as swiftly to love as a ray of light to a bright body.It gives of itself according to the ardor it finds, so that as charity spreads farther the eternal good increases upon it,and the more souls there are who love, up there, the more there are to love well, and the more love they reflect to each other, as in a mirror.

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗

12Undated

The mind which is created quick to love, is responsive to everything that is pleasing, soon as by pleasure it is awakened into activity. Your apprehensive faculty draws an impression from a real object, and unfolds it within you, so that it makes the mind turn thereto. And if, being turned, it inclines towards it, that inclination is love; that is nature, which through pleasure is bound anew within you.

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗

13Undated

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

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗

14Undated

There is no greater sorrowthan thinking back upon a happy timein misery--

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗

15Undated

You did thirst for blood, and with blood I fill you

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗

16Undated

Through me is the way to the city of woe. Through me is the way to sorrow eternal. Through me is the way to the lost below. Justice moved my architect supernal. I was constructed by divine power,supreme wisdom, and love primordial. Before me no created things were. Save those eternal, and eternal I abide. Abandon all hope, you who enter.

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗

17Undated

Through me you go to the grief wracked city; Through me you go to everlasting pain; Through me you go a pass among lost souls. Justice inspired my exalted Creator: I am a creature of the Holiest Power, of Wisdom in the Highest and of Primal Love. Nothing till I was made was made, only eternal beings. And I endure eternally. Surrender as you enter, every hope you have.

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗

18Undated

And he began, "What chance or destinyhas brought you here before your final day?And who is he who leads your pilgrimage?""Up there in life beneath the quiet starsI lost my way," I answered, "in a valley,before I'd reached the fullness of my age.I turned my shoulders on it yesterday:this soul appeared as I was falling back,and by the road through Hell he leads me home.""Follow your star and you will never fail to find your glorious port," he said to me

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗

19Undated

The weapons of divine justice are blunted by the confession and sorrow of the offender.

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗

20Undated

I am the way into the city of woe,I am the way into eternal pain,I am the way to go among the lost.Justice caused my high architect to move,Divine omnipotence created me,The highest wisdom, and the primal love.Before me there were no created thingsBut those that last forever—as do I.Abandon all hope you who enter here.

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗

21Undated

And all the while one spirit uttered this,The other one did weep so, that, for pity,I swooned away as if I had been dying,And fell, even as a dead body falls.

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗

22Undated

It is necessity and not pleasure that compels us. [Italian: Necessita c'induce, e non diletto.]

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗

23Undated

There is no greater sorrowThan to recall a happy timeWhen miserable.

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗

24Undated

Noi siam venuti al loco ov'i' t'ho dettoche tu vedrai le genti dolorosec'hanno perduto il ben de l'intelletto.We to the place have come, where I have told theeThou shalt behold the people dolorousWho have foregone the good of intellect.

Dante Alighieri / quote

↗