Dante Alighieri Love Quotes

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

Love insists the loved loves back

Love, that moves the sun and the other stars

Through me you pass into the city of woe: Through me you pass into eternal pain: Through me among the people lost for aye. Justice the founder of my fabric moved: To rear me was the task of power divine, Supremest wisdom, and primeval love. Before me things create were none, save things Eternal, and eternal I shall endure. All hope abandon, ye who enter here.

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.

Amor, ch'al cor gentile ratto s'apprende prese costui de la bella persona che mi fu tolta; e 'l modo ancor m'offende. Amor, che a nullo amato amar perdona, Mi prese del costui piacer sì forte, Che, come vedi, ancor non m'abbandona..." "Love, which quickly arrests the gentle heart, Seized him with my beautiful form That was taken from me, in a manner which still grieves me. Love, which pardons no beloved from loving, took me so strongly with delight in him That, as you see, it still abandons me not...

Thus you may understand that love alone is the true seed of every merit in you, and of all acts for which you must atone.

The Love that moves the sun and the other stars.

He woke her then, and trembling and obedient, she ate that burning heart out of his hand. Weeping, I saw him then depart from me. Could he daily feel a stab of hunger for her? Find nourishment in the very sight of her? I think so. But would she see through the bars of his plight, and ache for him?

Now you know how much my love for you burns deep in me when I forget about our emptiness, and deal with shadows as with solid things.

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 things But those that last forever—as do I. Abandon all hope you who enter here.

It was the hour of morning, when the sun mounts with those stars that shone with it when God's own love first set in motion those fair things

Love, which absolves no one beloved from loving, seized me so strongly with his charm that, as you see, it has not left me yet. Love brought us to one death.

So that the Universe felt love, by which, as somebelieve, the world has many times been turned to chaos. And at that moment this ancient rock, here and elsewhere, fell broken into pieces.

I, answering in the end, began: 'Alas, how many yearning thoughts, what great desire, have lead them through such sorrow to their fate?

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.

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.

دردی بزرگتر از یاد روزگار خوشی در دوران تیره روزی نیست! -کمدی الهی دانته، کتاب دوزخ-

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.

As once I loved you in my mortal flesh, without it now I love you still.

O grace abounding and allowing me to dare to fix my gaze on the Eternal Light, so deep my vision was consumed in it! I saw how it contains within its depths all things bound in a single book by love of which creation is the scattered leaves: how substance, accident, and their relation were fused in such a way that what I now describe is but a glimmer of that Light.

That with him were, what time the Love Divine

how short a time the fire of love endures in woman if frequent sight and touch do not rekindle it.

He loves but little who can say and count in words how much he loves

Love rules me. It determines what I ask.

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

We climbed, he first and I behind, until though a small round opening ahead of us, I saw the lovely things the heavens hold, and we came out to see once more the stars.

God is the love that moves the sun and stars.

I say that when she appeared, in whatever place, by the hope embodied in that marvelous greeting, for me no enemy remained, in fact I shone with a flame of charity that made me grant pardon to whoever had offended me: and if anyone had then asked me anything my reply would only have been: ‘Love’, with an aspect full of humility.

Noi leggeveamo un giorno per diletto Di Lancialotto, come amor lo strinse; Soli eravamo e senza alcun sospetto Per più fiate gli occhi ci sospinse Quella lettura, e scolorocci il viso; Ma solo un punto fu quel che ci vinse. Quando leggemmo il disiato riso Esser baciato da cotanto amante, Questi, che mai da me non fia diviso, La bocca mi baciò tutto tremante. Galeotto fu il libro e chi lo scrisse: Quel giorno più non vi leggemmo avante." ""We were reading one day, to pass the time, of Lancelot, how love had seized him. We were alone, and without any suspicion And time and time again our eyes would meet over that literature, and our faces paled, and yet one point alone won us. When we had read how the desired smile was kissed by so true a lover, This one, who never shall be parted from me, kissed my mouth, all a-tremble. Gallehault was the book and he who wrote it That day we read no further.

Within her presence, I had once been used to feeling—trembling—wonder, dissolution; but that was long ago. Still, though my soul, now she was veiled, could not see her directly, by way of hidden force that she could move, I felt the mighty power of old love.

Here powers failed my high imagination: But by now my desire and will were turned, Like a balanced wheel rotated evenly, By the Love that moves the sun and the other stars.

…I am left with less than one drop of my blood that does not tremble. I recognize the the signs of the old flame.

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.

He, in his love songs, and his tales in prose, was without peer--and if fools claim Limoges produced a better, there are always those who measure worth by popular acclaim, ignoring principles of art and reason to base their judgments on the author's name.

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.

Neither Creator nor creature ever, Son, " he began, "was destitute of love Natural or spiritual; and thou knowest it.

My son, you've seen the temporary fire and the eternal fire; you have reached the place past which my powers cannot see. I've brought you here through intellect and art; from now on, let your pleasure be your guide; you're past the steep and past the narrow paths. Look at the sun that shines upon your brow; look at the grasses, flowers, and the shrubs born here, spontaneously, of the earth. Among them, you can rest or walk until the coming of the glad and lovely eyes-- those eyes that weeping, sent me to your side. Await no further word or sign from me: your will is free, erect, and whole-- to act against that will would be to err: therefore I crown and miter you over yourself

THROUGH ME THE WAY INTO THE SUFFERING CITY, THROUGH ME THE WAY TO THE ETERNAL PAIN, THROUGH ME THE WAY THAT RUNS AMONG THE LOST. JUSTICE URGED ON MY HIGH ARTIFICER; MY MAKER WAS DIVINE AUTHORITY, THE HIGHEST WISDOM, AND THE PRIMAL LOVE. BEFORE ME NOTHING BUT ETERNAL THINGS WERE MADE, AND I ENDURE ETERNALLY. ABANDON EVERY HOPE, WHO ENTER HERE.

As at those words did I myself become; And all my love was so absorbed in Him, That in oblivion Beatrice was eclipsed.

I love to doubt as well as know." ~ Dante's Inferno, Canto XI, 93: "non men che saver, dubbiar m'aggrata.

Only as a man surrenders himself to Devine Love may he hope for salvation, and salvation is open to all who surrender themselves

E chi avesse voluto conoscere Amore, fare lo potea mirando lo tremare de li occhi miei.

The Infinite Goodness has such wide arms that it takes whatever turns to it.

I have set foot in that region of life where it is not possible to go with any more intention of returning.

You shall leave everything you love most dearly: this is the arrow that the bow of exile shoots first.

O virgin mother, daughter of thy Son, humble beyond all creatures and more exalted; predestined turning point of God's intention; Thy merit so ennobled human nature that its divine Creator did not scorn to make Himself the creature of His creature. The Love that was rekindled in Thy womb sends for the warmth of the eternal peace within whose ray this flower has come to bloom. Here to us, thou art the noon and scope of Love revealed; and among mortal men, the living fountain of eternal hope.

Time and again the thought comes to my mind of the dark condition Love imparts to me; then the pity of it strikes me, and I ask: “Could ever anyone have felt the same?” For Love’s attack is so precipitous that life itself all but abandons me: nothing survives except one lonely spirit, allowed to live because it speaks of you. With hope of help to come I gather courage, and deathly languid, drained of all defenses, I come to you expecting to be healed; and if I raise my eyes to look at you, within my heart a tremor starts to spread, driving out life, stopping my pulses’ beat.

Imagination, there on high— To high to breathe free, after such a climb— Had lost its power; but now, just like a wheel That spins so evenly it measures time By space, the deepest wish that I could feel And all my will, were turning with the love That moves the sun and all the stars above.

the Love that moves the sun and all the other stars.

Love, that allows no loved one to be excused from loving, seized me so fiercely with desire for him, it still will not leave me, as you can see. Love led us to one death.

Through me the way into the grieving city, Through me the way into eternal sorrow, Through me the way among the lost people. Justice moved my high maker; Divine power made me, Highest wisdom and primal love. Before me were no things created Except eternal ones, and I endure eternal. Abandon every hope, you who enter.

My lady looks so gentle and so pure When yielding salutation by the way, That the tongue trembles and has nought to say, And the eyes, which fain would see, may not endure. And still, amid the praise she hears secure, She walks with humbleness for her array; Seeming a creature sent from Heaven to stay On earth, and show a miracle made sure. She is so pleasant in the eyes of men That through the sight the inmost heart doth gain A sweetness which needs proof to know it by: And from between her lips there seems to move A soothing essence that is full of love, Saying for ever to the spirit, “Sigh!

Thus it was up to God, to Him alone in His own ways - by one or both, I say - to give man back his whole life and perfection. But since a deed done is more prized the more it manifests within itself the mark of the loving heart and goodness of the doer, the Everlasting Love, whose seal is plain on all the wax of the world was pleased to move in all His ways to raise you up again. There was not, nor will be, from the first day to the last night, an act so glorious and so magnificent, on either way. For God, in giving Himself that man might be able to raise himself, gave even more than if he had forgiven him in mercy. All other means would have been short, I say, of perfect justice, but that God's own Son humbled Himself to take on mortal clay. -Paradiso, Canto VII

But my own wings were not enough for this, ... Here vigour failed the lofty fantasy: But now was turning my desire and will, Even as a wheel that equally is moved, The Love which moves the sun and the other stars.

Through me is the way into the doleful city; through me the way into the eternal pain; through me the way among the people lost. Justice moved my High Maker; Divine Power made me, Wisdom Supreme, and Primal Love. Before me were no things created, but eternal; and eternal I endure: leave all hope, ye that enter.

Well do I see how the Eternal Ray, which, once seen, kindles love forevermore, already shines on you. If on your way some other thing seduce your love, my brother, it can only be a trace, misunderstood, of this, which you see shining through the other.

Amor condusse noi ad una morte.

Then I call on Death as to a sweet and gentle refuge: and I say: 'Come to me' with such love, that I am envious of all who die

Beyond the sphere that hath the widest gyre Passeth the sigh that leaves my heart below...

Love is my mover, source of all I say. (Canto 2; 72)

Bethink thee then how love must be the seed In you, not only of each virtuous action, But also of each punishable deed.

The soul, which is created quick to love, responds to everything that pleases, just as soon as beauty wakens it to act.

The Love which moves the sun and the other stars.

In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself in a dark wood where the straight way was lost. —DANTE ALIGHIERI, The Divine Comedy: Canto I (Carlyle-Wicksteed Translation, 1932)

I have seen her walk all dressed in green, so formed she would have sparked love in a stone, that love I bear for her very shadow, so that I wished her, in those fields of grass, — Dante Alighieri, from “Pantoum,” Divine Comedy (Berkley, 2003)

Speak," said my Master, "and be not afraid   Of speaking, but speak out, and say to him   What he demands with such solicitude." Whence I: "Thou peradventure marvellest,   O antique spirit, at the smile I gave;   But I will have more wonder seize upon thee. This one, who guides on high these eyes of mine,   Is that Virgilius, from whom thou didst learn   To sing aloud of men and of the Gods. If other cause thou to my smile imputedst,   Abandon it as false, and trust it was   Those words which thou hast spoken concerning him." Already he was stooping to embrace   My Teacher's feet; but he said to him: "Brother,   Do not; for shade thou art, and shade beholdest." And he uprising: "Now canst thou the sum   Of love which warms me to thee comprehend,   When this our vanity I disremember, Treating a shadow as substantial thing.

To every heart which the sweet pain doth move, And unto which these words may now be brought For true interpretation and kind thought, Be greeting in our Lord’s name, which is Love. Of those long hours wherein the stars, above, Wake and keep watch, the third was almost nought, When Love was shown me with such terrors fraught As may not carelessly be spoken of. He seemed like one who is full of joy, and had My heart within his hand, and on his arm My lady, with a mantle round her, slept; Whom (having wakened her) anon he made To eat that heart; she ate, as fearing harm. Then he went out; and as he went, he wept.

For certain he hath seen all perfectness For 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.

Often it is brought home to my mind the dark quality that Love gives me, and pity moves me, so that frequently I say: ‘Alas! is anyone so afflicted?’: since Amor assails me suddenly, so that life almost abandons me: only a single spirit stays with me, and that remains because it speaks of you. I renew my strength, because I wish for help, and pale like this, all my courage drained, come to you, believing it will save me: and if I lift my eyes to gaze at you my heart begins to tremble so, that from my pulse the soul departs.

I say most truly that at that moment the spirit of life, which hath its dwelling in the secretest chamber of the heart, began to tremble so violently that the least pulses of my body shook therewith; and in trembling it said these words: Ecce deus fortior me, qui veniens dominabitur mihi, (“Here is a deity stronger than I ; who, coming, shall rule over me.”)

But Virgil had departed, leaving us bereft: Virgil, sweetest of fathers, Virgil, to whom I gave myself for my salvation.

Justice incited my sublime Creator; Created me divine Omnipotence, The highest Wisdom and the primal Love. Before me there were no created things, Only eterne, and I eternal last.

When virtue lights in us 11 a fire of love, that love ignites another within the soul that sees its burning.

Love, which in gentlest hearts will soonest bloom seized my lover with passion for that sweet body from which I was torn unshriven to my doom

In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself in a dark wood where the straight way was lost. —DANTE ALIGHIERI, The Divine Comedy: Canto I

It must be that Love lives within this lady who makes me go weeping so

Love that is kindled by virtue, will, in another find reply, as long as that love's flame appears without...

Quick! Quick! Let’s lose no time through lack of love!’ so all of those behind now shouted out. ‘For zeal in doing good turns grace new green.

No one, while hope shows any hint of green, is lost beyond return to love eternal merely because the Church has voiced its curse.

How long in woman lasts the fire of love, If eye or touch do not relight it often.

from this you surely understand that love must be the seed in you of every virtue and of every deed that merits punishment.

...there is no one so lost that the eternal love cannot return...

You’ll leave behind you all you hold most dear. And this will be the grievous arrow barb that exile, first of all, will shoot your way.

And you will taste the saltiness of bread when offered by another’s hand – as, too, how hard it is to climb a stranger’s stair.

No greater grief than to remember days Of joy, when misery is at hand. That kens Thy learn’d instructor. Yet so eagerly 120 If thou art bent to know the primal root, From whence our love gat being, I will do As one, who weeps and tells his tale. One day, For our delight we read of Lancelot, 4 How him love thrall’d. Alone we were, and no 125 Suspicion near us. Oft-times by that reading Our eyes were drawn together, and the hue Fled from our alter’d cheek. But at one point Alone we fell. When of that smile we read, The wished smile so raptorously kiss’d 130 By one so deep in love, then he, who ne’er From me shall separate, at once my lips All trembling kiss’d. The book and writer both Were love’s purveyors. In its leaves that day We read no more.

Faith, an overpowering love, and maybe it's blasphemous, but that's how I think of the way that I love you. You came into my life and suddenly I had one truth to hold to-that I loved you, and you loved me.

Joyous Love seemed to me, the while he held My heart within his hands, and in his arms My lady lay asleep wrapped in a veil. He woke her then and trembling and obedient She ate that burning heart out of his hand; Weeping I saw him then depart from me.

Now you can plainly see how deeply hidden truth is from scrutinists who would insist that every love is, in itself, praiseworthy; and they are led to error by the matter of love, because it may seem-always-good; but not each seal is fine, although the wax is.

Because our eyes were fixed on earthly things, at no point raised to look towards the heights, so justice sinks them here within the earth. Since avarice extinguished all our love for any good, and so good works were lost justice here holds us tight within its grip.

Many a time the thought returns to me: What sad conditions Love on me bestows! And moved by Pity I say frequently: 'Can there be anyone who my state knows?' For Love takes hold of me so suddenly My vital spirits I am near to lose. One only of them all survives in me, Staying to speak of you, as Love allows. To aid me then my forces I renew And pallid, all my courage drained long since, I come to you to remedy my plight; But if I raise my eyes to look at you So vast a tremor in my heart begins My beating pulses put my soul to flight.

Whoever is so misguided as to think that the place of his birth is the most delightful spot under the sun may also believe that his own language—his mother tongue, that is—is pre-eminent among all others; and, as a result he may believe that his language was also Adam’s. To me, however, the whole world is a homeland, like the sea to fish—though I drank from the Arno before cutting my teeth, and love Florence so much that, because I loved her suffer exile unjustly—and I will weight the balance of my judgment more with reason than with [sensation].

All who, in wanting grace, do not seek help from you, might wish to soar yet lack the wings. Nor in your kindness do you give your aid to those alone who ask, but often run, before they ask, to them in generous freedom. In you is pity, in you compassion, in you all-giving power. All good in you is gathered up that creature form can bear.

Through me the way is to the city dolent; Through me the way is to eternal dole; Through me the way among the people lost. Justice incited my sublime Creator; Created me divine Omnipotence, The highest Wisdom and the primal Love. Before me there were no created things, Only eterne, and I eternal last. "All hope abandon, ye who enter in!

Because your human longings point to where portions grow smaller in shared fellowship, meanness of mind must make the bellows sigh. 52 If love, though, seeking for the utmost sphere, should ever wrench your longings to the skies, such fears would have no place within your breast. 55 For, there, the more that we can speak of “ours”, the more each one possesses of the good and, in that cloister, caritas burns brighter.

97 Love, which in gentlest hearts will soonest bloom, 98 seized my lover with passion for that sweet body 99 from which I was torn unshriven to my doom. 100 Love, which permits no loved one not to love, 101 took me so strongly with delight in him 102 that we are one in Hell, as we were above. 103 Love led us to one death. In the depths of Hell 104 Caïna waits for him who took our live." 105 This was the piteous tale they stopped to tell. (Inferno, Canto V)

She appeared dressed in the most patrician of colors, a subdued and decorous crimson, her robe bound round and adorned in a style suitable to her years. At that very moment, and I speak the truth, the vital spirit, the one that dwells in the most secret chamber of the heart, began to tremble so violently that even the most minute veins of my body were strangely affected; and trembling, it spoke these words: “Here is a god stronger than I who comes to rule over me.

Inferno was for learning about the nature of our sins. Purgatorio is for learning how to overcome our tendencies to fall victim to them. Understanding our dilemma is important, but it's not enough. What we do with that understanding makes the difference between life and death. Humility is the foundation of all spiritual progress. Humility builds resilience. Stop thinking of yourself as the center of your world you will find it becomes easier to endure life's setbacks. Plus, you will in time become more grateful, more merciful, and more loving.

That sacred army, that Christ espoused with his blood, displayed itself in the form of a white rose, but the Angel other, that sees and sings the glory, of him who inspires it with love, as it flies, and sings the excellence that has made it as it is, descended continually into the great flower, lovely with so many petals, and climbed again to where its love lives ever, like a swarm of bees, that now plunges into the flowers, and now returns, to where their labour is turned to sweetness. Their faces were all of living flame, their wings of gold, and the rest of them so white that snow never reached that limit. When they dropped into the flower, they offered, to tier on tier, the peace and ardour that they acquired with beating wings: and the presence of such a vast flying swarm between the flower and what was beyond it, did not dilute the vision or the splendour: because the Divine Light so penetrates the Universe, to the measure of its Value, that nothing has the power to prevent it. This kingdom, safe and happy, crowded with ancient peoples and the new, had sight and Love all turned towards one point.

To every captive soul and gentle heart into whose sight this present speech may come, so that they might write its meaning for me, greetings, in their lord¬?s name, who is Love. Already a third of the hours were almost past of the time when all the stars were shining, when Amor suddenly appeared to me whose memory fills me with terror. Joyfully Amor seemed to me to hold my heart in his hand, and held in his arms my lady wrapped in a cloth sleeping. Then he woke her, and that burning heart he fed to her reverently, she fearing, afterwards he went not to be seen weeping.