“She is the sum of nature's universe.
To her perfection all of beauty tends.”

— Dante Alighieri, book Vita Nuova

Source: La Vita Nuova (1293), Chapter XIV, lines 49–50 (tr. Barbara Reynolds)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Jan. 15, 2026. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "She is the sum of nature's universe. To her perfection all of beauty tends." by Dante Alighieri?

Dante Alighieri photo

Dante Alighieri105

Italian poet 1265–1321

Related quotes

“For beauty being the best of all we know
Sums up the unsearchable and secret aims
Of nature.”

Robert Seymour Bridges (1844–1930) British writer

The Growth of Love, Sonnet 8.
Poetry

“She had perfect features, with her eye, nose, lips, and ears the right size and in right places. That is all it takes to make people beautiful, normal body parts – yet why does nature mess it up so many times?”

Chetan Bhagat book 2 States: The Story of My Marriage

Source: 2 States: The Story of My Marriage

“Joan's beauty was more than the sum of its parts. She was soft and feminine, and wore silky clinging clothes and small bandannas tied close to her head. In her reserve, in her achievement of a personal style, she reminded Edie of Garbo.”

Joan Vollmer (1923–1951) Common-law wife of William S. Burroughs

About

“Exceeding fair she was not; and yet fair
In that she never studied to be fairer
Than Nature made her; beauty cost her nothing,
Her virtues were so rare.”

George Chapman All Fools

Act I, scene i.
All Fools (1605)

“I think her flaws make me love her even more. She's not perfect, but she's perfect to me”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Source: Between the Lines

“For nature beats in perfect tune,
And rounds with rhyme her every rune,
Whether she work in land or sea,
Or hide underground her alchemy.
Thou canst not wave thy staff in air,
Or dip thy paddle in the lake,
But it carves the bow of beauty there,
And the ripples in rhymes the oar forsake.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

Woonotes II, st. 7
1840s, Poems (1847)

“Every woman knows that, regardless of all her other achievements, she is a failure if she is not beautiful.”

Germaine Greer (1939) Australian feminist author

Source: The Whole Woman

“[H]e was a graduate in nature's university. Nature is wiser than the schoolmaster; she educates but she never crams. Her scholars do not go up to take their degrees; their degrees come to them.”

Jean Ingelow (1820–1897) British writer

Source: Sarah de Berenger: A Novel (1879), Ch. 16, p. 198.

“She is a mortal danger to all men. She is beautiful without knowing it, and possesses charms that she’s not even aware of. She is like a trap set by nature - a sweet perfumed rose in whose petals Cupid lurks in ambush! Anyone who has seen her smile has known perfection. She instills grace in every common thing and divinity in every careless gesture. Venus in her shell was never so lovely, and Diana in the forest never so graceful as my Lady when she strides through Paris!”

Edmond Rostand (1868–1918) French writer

Source: Cyrano de Bergerac

“Her vision of the world under the water represented a beautiful stillness, a version of heaven. It was the lost city of Lena, her alternate universe, the life she yearned for but didn't get to have.”

Ann Brashares book Sisterhood Everlasting

Source: Sisterhood Everlasting

Related topics