quotes
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La gloria di colui che tutto moveper l'universo penetra, e risplendein una parte piú e meno altrove.
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The glory of Him who moves everything penetrates through the universe, and is resplendent in one part more and in another less.
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Canto I, lines 1–3 (tr. C. E. Norton).
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Poca favilla gran fiamma seconda.
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A great flame follows a little spark.
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Canto I, line 34 (tr. Sinclair).
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Tu stesso ti fai grossocol falso imaginar, sì che non vediciò che vedresti se l'avessi scosso.
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You dull your own perceptionswith false imaginings and do not graspwhat would be clear but for your preconceptions.
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Canto I, lines 88–90 (tr. Ciardi).
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E 'n la sua volontade è nostra pace:ell'è quel mare al qual tutto si moveciò ch'ella crïa o che natura face.
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And his will is our peace; this is the seaTo which is moving onward whatsoeverIt doth create, and all that nature makes.
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Canto III, lines 85–87 (tr. Longfellow).
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Lo maggior don che Dio per sua larghezzafesse creando, e a la sua bontatepiù conformato, e quel ch'e' più apprezza,fu de la volontà la libertate;di che le creature intelligenti,e tutte e sole, fuore e son dotate.
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The greatest gift which God in His bounty bestowed in creating, and the most conformed to His own goodness and that which He most prizes, was the freedom of the will, with which the creatures that have intelligence, they all and they alone, were and are endowed.
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Canto V, lines 19–24 (tr. Singleton).
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Tu proverai sì come sa di salelo pane altrui, e come è duro callelo scendere e 'l salir per l'altrui scale.
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Thou shalt prove how salt is the taste of another man's bread and how hard is the way up and down another man's stairs.
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Canto XVII, lines 58–60 (tr. Sinclair).
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Però ne la giustizia sempiternala vista che riceve il vostro mondo,com' occhio per lo mare, entro s'interna;che, ben che da la proda veggia il fondo,in pelago nol vede; e nondimenoèli, ma cela lui l'esser profondo.
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Therefore the sight that is granted to your world penetrates within the Eternal Justice as the eye into the sea; for though from the shore it sees the bottom, in the open sea it does not, and yet the bottom is there but the depth conceals it.
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Canto XIX, lines 58–63 (tr. Sinclair).
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Or tu chi se', che vuo' sedere a scranna,per giudicar di lungi mille migliacon la veduta corta d'una spanna?
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Now who art thou, that on the bench wouldst sitIn judgment at a thousand miles away,With the short vision of a single span?
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Canto XIX, lines 79–81 (tr. Longfellow).
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L'esperîenzadi questa dolce vita.
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The experience of this sweet life.
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Canto XX, lines 47–48 (tr. Longfellow).
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Quale allodetta che 'n aere si spaziaprima cantando, e poi tace contentade l'ultima dolcezza che la sazia,tal mi sembiò l'imago de la 'mprenta de l'etterno piacere.
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Like the lark that soars in the air, first singing, then silent, content with the last sweetness that satiates it, such seemed to me that image, the imprint of the Eternal Pleasure.
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Canto XX, lines 73–77 (tr. Sinclair).
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Ed ènne dolce così fatto scemo,perché il ben nostro in questo ben s'affina,che quel che vole Iddio, e noi volemo.
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And sweet to us is such a deprivation,Because our good in this good is made perfect,That whatsoe'er God wills, we also will.
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Canto XX, lines 136–138 (tr. Longfellow).
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La spada di qua sù non taglia in frettané tardo, ma' ch'al parer di coluiche disïando o temendo l'aspetta.
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The sword above here smiteth not in hasteNor tardily, howe'er it seem to himWho fearing or desiring waits for it.
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Canto XXII, lines 16–18 (tr. Longfellow).
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La notte che le cose ci nasconde.
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The night that hides things from us.
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Canto XXIII, line 3 (tr. Sinclair).
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L'uso d'i mortali è come frondain ramo, che sen va e altra vene.
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The use of men is like a leafOn bough, which goeth and another cometh.
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Canto XXVI, lines 137–138 (tr. Longfellow).
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Di quel color che per lo sole avversonube dipigne da sera e da mane,vid' îo allora tutto 'l ciel cosperso.
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With the colour that paints the morning and evening clouds that face the sun I saw then the whole heaven suffused.
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Canto XXVII, lines 28–30 (tr. Sinclair).
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Da quel puntodepende il cielo e tutta la natura.
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From that pointDependent is the heaven and nature all.
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Canto XXVIII, lines 41–42 (tr. Longfellow).
I saw within Its depth how It conceivesall things in a single volume bound by Love,of which the universe is the scattered leaves.
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La tua benignità non pur soccorrea chi domanda, ma molte fïateliberamente al dimandar precorre.
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Not only thy benignity gives succourTo him who asketh it, but oftentimesForerunneth of its own accord the asking.
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Canto XXXIII, lines 16–18 (tr. Longfellow).
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Nel suo profondo vidi che s'interna,legato con amore in un volume,ciò che per l'universo si squaderna.
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I saw within Its depth how It conceivesall things in a single volume bound by Love,of which the universe is the scattered leaves.
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Canto XXXIII, lines 85–87 (tr. Ciardi).
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Qual è 'l geomètra che tutto s'affigeper misurar lo cerchio, e non ritrova,pensando, quel principio ond' elli indige,tal era io a quella vista nova:veder voleva come si convennel'imago al cerchio e come vi s'indova;ma non eran da ciò le proprie penne:se non che la mia mente fu percossada un fulgore in che sua voglia venne.A l'alta fantasia qui mancò possa;ma già volgeva il mio disio e 'l velle,sì come rota ch'igualmente è mossa,l'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle.
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As the geometrician, who endeavoursTo square the circle, and discovers not,By taking thought, the principle he wants,Even such was I at that new apparition; I wished to see how the image to the circle Conformed itself, and how it there finds place;But my own wings were not enough for this, Had it not been that then my mind there smote A flash of lightning, wherein came its wish. 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.
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Canto XXXIII, closing lines, as translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow