Quotes from book
Purgatorio

Name: Purgatorio
Author: Dante Alighieri

Dante AlighieriOriginal title Purgatorio (Italian, 1316)

Purgatorio is the second part of Dante's Divine Comedy, following the Inferno, and preceding the Paradiso. The poem was written in the early 14th century. It is an allegory telling of the climb of Dante up the Mount of Purgatory, guided by the Roman poet Virgil, except for the last four cantos at which point Beatrice takes over as Dante's guide.

“But so much the more malign and wild does the ground become with bad seed and untilled, as it has the more of good earthly vigor.”

Dante Alighieri book Purgatorio

Canto XXX, lines 118–120 (tr. C. E. Norton).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Purgatorio

“Worldly renown is naught but a breath of wind, which now comes this way and now comes that, and changes name because it changes quarter.”

Dante Alighieri book Purgatorio

Canto XI, lines 100–102 (tr. C. E. Norton).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Purgatorio

“He goes seeking liberty, which is so dear, as he knows who gives his life for it.”

Dante Alighieri book Purgatorio

Canto I, lines 71–72 (tr. Sinclair).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Purgatorio

“For top of judgment doth not vail itself,
Because the fire of love fulfils at once
What he must satisfy who here installs him.”

Dante Alighieri book Purgatorio

Canto VI, lines 37–39 (tr. Longfellow).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Purgatorio

“O human race, born to fly upward, wherefore at a little wind dost thou so fall?”

Dante Alighieri book Purgatorio

Canto XII, lines 95–96 (tr. C. E. Norton).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Purgatorio

“Love kindled by virtue always kindles another, provided that its flame appear outwardly.”

Dante Alighieri book Purgatorio

Canto XXII, lines 10–12.
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Purgatorio

“To a greater power and to a better nature you, free, are subject, and that creates the mind in you which the heavens have not in their charge. Therefore if the present world goes astray, in you is the cause, in you let it be sought.”

Dante Alighieri book Purgatorio

Canto XVI, lines 79–83 (tr. Sinclair).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Purgatorio

“Do you not know that we are worms and born
To form the angelic butterfly that soars,
Without defenses, to confront His judgment?”

Dante Alighieri book Purgatorio

Canto X, lines 121–129 (tr. Mandelbaum).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Purgatorio
Context: O Christians, arrogant, exhausted, wretched,
Whose intellects are sick and cannot see,
Who place your confidence in backward steps,
Do you not know that we are worms and born
To form the angelic butterfly that soars,
Without defenses, to confront His judgment?
Why does your mind presume to flight when you
Are still like the imperfect grub, the worm
Before it has attained its final form?