Canto XXVI quotes
    View Quote
    Né dolcezza di figlio, né la pietadel vecchio padre, né 'l debito amorelo qual dovea Penelopé far lieta,vincer potero dentro a me l'ardorech'i' ebbi a divenir del mondo esperto,e de li vizi umani e del valore.
  
    View Quote
    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.
  
    View Quote
    lines 94-99 (tr. Longfellow)
  You were not born to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge.
  
    View Quote
    Considerate la vostra semenza:fatti non foste a viver come bruti,ma per seguir virtute e canoscenza.
  
    View Quote
    Consider your origin; you were not born to live like brutes,but to follow virtue and knowledge.
  
    View Quote
    lines 118–120.
  
    View Quote
    Variant translations:
  
    View Quote
    Consider well the seed that gave you birth:You were not made to live as brutes,But to follow virtue and knowledge.
  
    View Quote
    Consider ye the seed from which ye sprang;Ye were not made to live like unto brutes,But for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.(Longfellow)