“Virtue with poverty didst thou prefer
To the possession of great wealth with vice.”

— Dante Alighieri , book Purgatorio

Canto XX, lines 26–27 (tr. Longfellow).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Purgatorio

Original

Con povertà volesti anzi virtute che gran ricchezza posseder con vizio.

The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Purgatorio

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 27, 2023. History

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Dante Alighieri 105

Italian poet 1265–1321

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Attributed in posthumous publications

“That people who pay greater respect to a wealthy villain than to an honest, upright man in poverty, almost deserve to be enslaved; they plainly show that wealth, however it may be acquired, is, in their esteem, to be preferred to virtue.”

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“We thank thee for the wisdom of the fathers in the formation of this government, and for the assistance thou didst render them in arriving at the great principles relating to the equality of man. We thank thee for the glorious declaration.”

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“Virtue with poverty didst thou preferTo the possession of great wealth with vice.”

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Dante Alighieri 105

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“Virtue with poverty didst thou prefer
To the possession of great wealth with vice.”