Quotes from The Inferno

Dante Alighieri ·  288 pages

Rating: (116.8K votes)


“Do not be afraid; our fate
Cannot be taken from us; it is a gift.”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno


“In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself within a dark woods where the straight way was lost.”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno


“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...”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno


“They yearn for what they fear for.”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno


“There is no greater sorrow then to recall our times of joy in wretchedness.”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno



“Through me you go into a city of weeping; through me you go into eternal pain; through me you go amongst the lost people”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno


“From there we came outside and saw the stars”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno


“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.”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno


“Because your question searches for deep meaning,
I shall explain in simple words”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno


“But the stars that marked our starting fall away.
We must go deeper into greater pain,
for it is not permitted that we stay.”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno



“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.”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno


“Hope not ever to see Heaven. I have come to lead you to the
other shore; into eternal darkness; into fire and into ice.”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno


“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”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno


“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.”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno


“He is, most of all, l'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle.”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno



“One ought to be afraid of nothing other then things possessed of power to do us harm, but things innoucuous need not be feared.”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno


“At grief so deep the tongue must wag in vain; the language of our sense and memory lacks the vocabulary of such pain.”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno


“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.”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno


“Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars.”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno


“As phantoms frighten beasts when shadows fall.”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno



“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.”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno


“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.”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno


“Here pity only lives when it is dead - Virgil”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno


“The poets leave hell and again behold the stars.”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno


“We were men once, though we've become trees”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno



“Soon you will be where your own eyes will see the source and cause and give you their own answer to the mystery.”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno


“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.”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno


“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 from The Inferno


“That which had pleased me once, troubled by spirit.”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno


About the author

Dante Alighieri
Born place: in Florence, Italy
Born date May 14, 1265
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“It is easy to forget now, how effervescent and free we all felt that summer. Everything fades: the shimmer of gold over White Cove; the laughter in the night air; the lavender early morning light on the faces of skyscrapers, which had suddenly become so heroically tall. Every dawn seemed to promise fresh miracles, among other joys that are in short supply these days. And so I will try to tell you, while I still remember, how it was then, before everything changed-that final season of the era that roared.”
― Anna Godbersen, quote from Bright Young Things


“I wasted time, and now doth time waste me;
For now hath time made me his numbering clock:
My thoughts are minutes; and with sighs they jar
Their watches on unto mine eyes, the outward watch,
Whereto my finger, like a dial's point,
Is pointing still, in cleansing them from tears.
Now sir, the sound that tells what hour it is
Are clamorous groans, which strike upon my heart,
Which is the bell: so sighs and tears and groans
Show minutes, times, and hours.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II


“for there is no cure for love save love itself. That is the verdict of all the wise doctors who have ever practiced since the earliest times.”
― Frans G. Bengtsson, quote from The Long Ships


“I know that sometimes people fake on each other out of genuine motives to hold onto the object of their tenderest feelings. They see themselves as so inadequate that they feel forced to wear a mask in order to continuously impress the other. I do not want to "hold" you, I want you to "stay" out of your own need for me.”
― Eldridge Cleaver, quote from Soul on Ice


“People say that time heals all wounds, and maybe they're right. But what if the wounds don't heal correctly, like when cuts leave behind nasty scars, or when broken bones mend together, but aren't as smooth anymore? Does it mean they're really healed? Or is it that the body did what it could to fix what broke...”
― Jessica Sorensen, quote from Breaking Nova


Interesting books

The Miseducation of Cameron Post
(20.2K)
The Miseducation of...
by Emily M. Danforth
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More
(17.1K)
The Wonderful Story...
by Roald Dahl
Maya's Notebook
(18.9K)
Maya's Notebook
by Isabel Allende
Letters from a Stoic (a selection)
(12.1K)
Letters from a Stoic...
by Seneca
The Portable Nietzsche
(8.1K)
The Portable Nietzsc...
by Friedrich Nietzsche
How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf
(15.6K)
How to Flirt with a...
by Molly Harper

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.