“Do not be afraid; our fate
Cannot be taken from us; it is a gift.”
“In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself within a dark woods where the straight way was lost.”
“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...”
“They yearn for what they fear for.”
“There is no greater sorrow then to recall our times of joy in wretchedness.”
“Through me you go into a city of weeping; through me you go into eternal pain; through me you go amongst the lost people”
“From there we came outside and saw the stars”
“And I — my head oppressed by horror — said:
"Master, what is it that I hear? Who are
those people so defeated by their pain?"
And he to me: "This miserable way
is taken by the sorry souls of those
who lived without disgrace and without praise.
They now commingle with the coward angels,
the company of those who were not rebels
nor faithful to their God, but stood apart.
The heavens, that their beauty not be lessened,
have cast them out, nor will deep Hell receive them —
even the wicked cannot glory in them.”
“Because your question searches for deep meaning,
I shall explain in simple words”
“But the stars that marked our starting fall away.
We must go deeper into greater pain,
for it is not permitted that we stay.”
“As little flowers, which the chill of night has bent and huddled, when the white sun strikes, grow straight and open fully on their stems, so did I, too, with my exhausted force.”
“Hope not ever to see Heaven. I have come to lead you to the
other shore; into eternal darkness; into fire and into ice.”
“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”
“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.”
“He is, most of all, l'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle.”
“One ought to be afraid of nothing other then things possessed of power to do us harm, but things innoucuous need not be feared.”
“At grief so deep the tongue must wag in vain; the language of our sense and memory lacks the vocabulary of such pain.”
“To get back up to the shining world from there
My guide and I went into that hidden tunnel,
And Following its path, we took no care
To rest, but climbed: he first, then I-so far,
through a round aperture I saw appear
Some of the beautiful things that Heaven bears,
Where we came forth, and once more saw the stars.”
“Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars.”
“As phantoms frighten beasts when shadows fall.”
“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.”
“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.”
“Here pity only lives when it is dead - Virgil”
“The poets leave hell and again behold the stars.”
“We were men once, though we've become trees”
“Soon you will be where your own eyes will see the source and cause and give you their own answer to the mystery.”
“And following its path, we took no care
To rest, but climbed: he first, then I-- so far,
Through a round aperture I saw appear
Some of the beautiful things that Heaven bears,
Where we came forth, and once more saw the stars.”
“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.”
“That which had pleased me once, troubled by spirit.”
“I want to be your end, but you gotta let it begin.”
“That kiss, I cannot describe. It was like a poem, a prayer, a homecoming unlooked-for. It was like dungeon walls crumbling to reveal a glimpse of sky. It”
“Loud, heap miseries upon us yet entwine our arts with laughters low!”
“I do not believe that grief is ever so great that it can not be contained within.”
“Joey told me nothing ever goes back exactly the way it was, that things expand and contract- like breathing, but you could never fill your lungs up with the same air twice.”
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