Consider your origin;
you were not born to live like brutes,
but to follow virtue and knowledge.

Considerate la vostra semenza:
fatti non foste a viver come bruti,
ma per seguir virtute e canoscenza.

Dante Alighieri

Inferno

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Topic

Purpose of life Virtue

Author

Dante Alighieri

Source

Inferno The Divine Comedy

Medium

Poem

Genre

Narrative poem Epic poem Religious literature

Language

Italian

Time

1321 1320s 14th century

Era

Middle Ages

Occupation

Poet Writer

From

Italy Europe

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Alighieri, Dante. "Inferno [Hell]." La Comedia di Dante Alleghieri [The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri]. Foligno: Johann Numeister and Evangelista Angelini da Trevi, 1472.

Current Citation

Alighieri, Dante. "Inferno." The Divine Comedy, edited by David H. Higgins, translated by C. H. Sisson. Oxford University Press, 2008.

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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote by Dante Alighieri

In that part of the book of my memory, before which very little is written, there is a heading that reads "Here begins a new life".

Dante Alighieri

La Vita Nuova

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More information about this quote
Topic
Love at first sight Being in love

Author

Dante Alighieri
Source
La Vita Nuova
Language
Italian
Time
1294 1290s 13th century
Era
Middle Ages
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Dante. La Vita Nuova [The New Life]. 1294, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Dante. Vita Nuova, translated by Mark Musa. Oxford University, 2008, ch. 1.

Another quote about Purpose of life

For what should a man live, if not for the pleasures of discourse?

Plato

Phaedrus

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More information about this quote
Topic
Good conversation Purpose of life
Speaker
Phaedrus

Author

Plato
Source
Phaedrus
Medium
Philosophical dialogue Dialogue
Genre
Philosophical literature
Statement Type
Question
Language
Greek
Time
370 BC 370s BC 4th century BC
Era
Classical antiquity
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Socrates. Quoted in Φαῖδρος [Phaedrus], written by Plato. c. 370 BC, section 258e.

Current Citation

Socrates. Quoted in "Phaedrus." Plato: Lysis; Symposium; Phaedrus, written by Plato, translated by Christopher Emlyn-Jones and William Preddy. Harvard University Press, 2022, sect. 258e.

Another quote from the 14th century

He loved chivalrie,
Trouthe and honour, fredom and curteisie.

Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales

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More information about this quote
Topic
Knights Medieval values

Author

Geoffrey Chaucer
Source
The Canterbury Tales
Language
English
Time
1400 1400s 14th century
Era
Middle Ages
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Chaucer, Geoffrey. "The General Prologue." The Canterbury Tales. London: William Caxton, c. 1476.

Current Citation

Chaucer, Geoffrey. "The General Prologue." The Canterbury Tales, edited and translated by Nevill Coghill. Penguin Classics, 2003.

Another quote from Middle Ages

We are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size.

Bernard of Chartres

More information about this quote
Topic
Scientific progress Progress
Speaker
Bernard of Chartres

Author

John of Salisbury
Language
Latin
Time
1159 1150s 12th century
Era
Middle Ages
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Bernard of Chartres. Quoted in The Metalogicon of John of Salisbury, written by John of Salisbury. c. 1159, bk. 3.

Another quote originally in Italian

Whoever desires to found a state and give it laws, must start with assuming that all men are bad and ever ready to display their vicious nature, whenever they may find occasions for it.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Discourses on Livy

More information about this quote
Topic
Political theory Government Human nature

Author

Niccolo Machiavelli
Source
Discourses on Livy
Genre
Political literature Philosophical literature
Language
Italian
Time
1531 1530s 16th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Machiavelli, Niccolò. Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio [Discourses on the First Ten of Titus Livy]. Papal Privilege, 1531, bk. 1, ch. 3

Current Citation

Machiavelli, Niccolo. Discourses on Livy, translated by Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 1, ch. 3.