Quotes from book
Inferno

Name: Inferno
Author: Dante Alighieri

Dante Alighieri Original title Inferno (Italian, 1304)

Inferno is the first part of Italian writer Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso. The Inferno tells the journey of Dante through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as nine concentric circles of torment located within the Earth; it is the "realm ... of those who have rejected spiritual values by yielding to bestial appetites or violence, or by perverting their human intellect to fraud or malice against their fellowmen". As an allegory, the Divine Comedy represents the journey of the soul toward God, with the Inferno describing the recognition and rejection of sin.

“At once I understood,
and I was sure this was that sect of evil souls who were
hateful to God and to His enemies.”

Dante Alighieri book Inferno

Canto III, lines 61–63 (tr. Mark Musa).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Inferno

“Between his legs were hanging down his entrails;
His heart was visible, and the dismal sack
that maketh excrement of what is eaten.”

Dante Alighieri book Inferno

Canto XXVIII, lines 25–27 (tr. Longfellow).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Inferno

“Lying in a featherbed
will not bring you fame, nor staying beneath the quilt,
and he who uses up his life without achieving fame
leaves no more vestige of himself on Earth
than smoke in the air or foam upon the water.”

Dante Alighieri book Inferno

Canto XXIV, lines 47–51.
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Inferno

“Through me the way into the suffering city,
through me the way to eternal pain,
through me the way that runs among the lost.”

Dante Alighieri book Inferno

Canto III, lines 1–3 (tr. Mandelbaum).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Inferno

“And you, the living soul, you over there
get away from all these people who are dead.”

Dante Alighieri book Inferno

Canto III, lines 88–89 (tr. Mark Musa).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Inferno

“A fair request should be followed by the deed in silence.”

Dante Alighieri book Inferno

Canto XXIV, lines 77–78 (tr. Sinclair).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Inferno

“Here one must leave behind all hesitation;
here every cowardice must meet its death.”

Dante Alighieri book Inferno

Canto III, lines 14–15 (tr. Mandelbaum).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Inferno

“Heaven, to keep its beauty,
cast them out, but even Hell itself would not receive them
for fear the wicked there might glory over them.”

Dante Alighieri book Inferno

Canto III, lines 40–42 (tr. Mark Musa).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Inferno

“Abandon all hope, you who enter here.”

Dante Alighieri book Inferno

Canto III, line 9.
Often quoted with the translated form "Abandon hope all ye who enter here". The word "all" modifies hope, not those who enter: "ogni speranza" means "all hope".
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Inferno