“Do the gods light this fire in our hearts
or does each man's mad desire become his god?”

—  Virgil , Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book IX, Lines 184–185 (tr. Fagles)

Original

Dine hunc ardorem mentibus addunt, Euryale, an sua cuique deus fit dira cupido?

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Oct. 7, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Do the gods light this fire in our hearts or does each man's mad desire become his god?" by Virgil?
Virgil photo
Virgil 138
Ancient Roman poet -70–-19 BC

Related quotes

Ursula K. Le Guin photo

“Is it the gods who set this fire in our hearts, or do we each make our fierce desire into a god?”

Ursula K. Le Guin book Lavinia

Source: Lavinia (2008), p. 66

“Euryalus, is it
the gods who put this fire in our minds,
or is it that each man's relentless longing
becomes a god to him?”

Allen Mandelbaum (1926–2011) American poet and professor of literature, translator from Latin and Italian

Book IX, lines 243–246
The Aeneid of Virgil (1971)

Origen photo

“As the eye naturally seeks the light and vision, and our body naturally desires food and drink, so our mind is possessed with a becoming and natural desire to become acquainted with the truth of God and the causes of things.”

Origen (185–254) Christian scholar in Alexandria

On First Principles, Bk. 2, ch. 11; vol. 1, p. 148
On First Principles

John Ruysbroeck photo

“As much as is iron, so much is fire;
And as much as is fire, so much is iron;
Yet the iron doth not become fire,
Nor the fire iron,
But each retains its substance and nature.
So likewise the spirit of man doth not become God,
But is deified,
And knows itself breadth, length, height and depth:
And as far as God is God,
So far the loving spirit is made one with Him
In love.”

John Ruysbroeck (1293–1381) Flemish mystic

The Twelve Beguines

Conrad Aiken photo

“Each gleaming point of light is like a seed
Dilating swiftly to coiling fires.
Each cloud becomes a rapidly dimming face,
Each hurrying face records its strange desires.”

Conrad Aiken (1889–1973) American novelist and poet

The House of Dust (1916 - 1917)

Pope Francis photo

“God is the light that illuminates the darkness, even if it does not dissolve it, and a spark of divine light is within each of us.”

Pope Francis (1936) 266th Pope of the Catholic Church

In the letter I wrote to you, you will remember I said that our species will end but the light of God will not end and at that point it will invade all souls and it will all be in everyone.
2010s, 2013, Interview in La Repubblica

Pope Francis photo

“God is the light that illuminates the darkness, even if it does not dissolve it, and a spark of divine light is within each of us”

Pope Francis (1936) 266th Pope of the Catholic Church

2010s, 2013, Interview in La Repubblica
Context: God is the light that illuminates the darkness, even if it does not dissolve it, and a spark of divine light is within each of us. In the letter I wrote to you, you will remember I said that our species will end but the light of God will not end and at that point it will invade all souls and it will all be in everyone.

George Bernard Shaw photo

“In a stupid nation the man of genius becomes a god: everybody worships him and nobody does his will.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

#101
1900s, Maxims for Revolutionists (1903)

Albert Einstein photo

“Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Attributed in emails in 1999, as debunked at "Malice of Absence" at Snopes.com http://www.snopes.com/religion/einstein.asp#MX2FyfdMLHissI4T.99
This statement has been attributed to others before Einstein; its first attribution to Einstein appears to have been in an email story that began circulating in 2004. See the Urban Legends Reference Pages http://www.snopes.com/religion/einstein.asp for more discussion.
Misattributed
Variant: Evil is the absence of God.

John Ruysbroeck photo

“Thus God is a common light and a common splendour, enlightening heaven and earth, and every man, each according to his need and worth”

John Ruysbroeck (1293–1381) Flemish mystic

Quoted in The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage (1916) by C. A. Wynschenk Dom, p. 6
Context: God being a common good, and His boundless love being common to all, He gives His grace... to all men, Pagan and Jew, good or evil... Thus God is a common light and a common splendour, enlightening heaven and earth, and every man, each according to his need and worth.

Related topics