Paradiso Love Quotes

[Piccarda]: "Brother, the power of love appeases our
will so – we only long for what we have;
we do not thirst for greater blessedness.
Should we desire a higher sphere than ours,
then our desires would be discordant with
the will of Him who has assigned us here,
but you'll see no such discord in these spheres;
to live in love is – here – necessity,
if you think on love's nature carefully. (Par. III, 70-78)

[Beatrice to Dante]: "Indeed I see that in your intellect
now shines the never-ending light; once seen,
that light, alone and always, kindles love;
and if a lesser thing allure your love,
it is a vestige of that light which – though
imperfectly – gleams through that lesser thing." (Par. V, 7-12)

[Beatrice]: "The greatest gift the magnanimity
of God, as He created, gave, the gift
most suited to His goodness, gift that He
most prizes, was the freedom of the will;
those beings that have intellect – all these
and none but these – received and do receive
this gift: thus you may draw, as consequence,
the high worth of a vow, when what is pledged
with your consent encounters God's consent;
for when a pact is drawn between a man
and God, then through free will, a man gives up
what I have called his treasure, his free will." (Par. V, 19-30)

[Justinian]: "This little planet is adorned with spirits,
whose acts were righteous, but who acted for
the honor and the fame that they would gain;
and when desires tend toward earthly ends,
then, so deflected, rays of the true love
mount toward the life above with lesser force." (Par. VI, 112-118)

[Beatrice]: "for God showed greater generosity
in giving His own self that man might be
able to rise, than if He simply pardoned;
for every other means fell short of justice,
except the way whereby the Son of God
humbled Himself when He became Incarnate." (Par. VII, 115-120)

[Dante to Charles Martel]: "…so may you clear the doubt
that rose in me when you – before – described
how from a gentle seed, harsh fruit derives."[…]
[Martel]: "The Good that moves and makes content the realm
through which you now ascend, makes providence
act as a force in these great heavens' bodies;
and in the Mind that, in itself, is perfect,
not only are the natures of His creatures
but their well-being, too, provided for;
and thus, whatever this bow shoots must fall
according to a providential end,
just like a shaft directed to its target.
Where this not so, the heavens you traverse
would bring about effects in such a way
that they would not be things of art but shards." (Par. VIII, 91-108)

"Those men to whom my name was known, called me
Folco [of Marseille]; and even as this sphere receives
my imprint, so was I impressed with its;
for even Belus' daughter, wronging both
Sychaeus and Creusa, did not burn
more than I did, as long as I was young;
nor did the Rhodopean woman whom
Demophoön deceived, nor did Alcides
when he enclosed Iole in his heart.
Yet one does not repent here; here one smiles –
not for the fault, which we do not recall,
but for the Power that fashioned and foresaw." (Par. IX, 94-105)

[St. Thomas]: "The Providence that rules the world with wisdom
so fathomless that creatures' intellects
are vanquished and can never probe its depth,
so that the Bride of Him who, with loud cries,
had wed her with His blessed blood, might meet
her Love with more fidelity and more
assurance in herself, on her behalf
commanded that there be two princes, one
on this side, one on that side, as her guides.
One prince was all seraphic in his ardor;
the other, for his wisdom, had possessed
the splendor of cherubic light on earth." (Par. XI, 28-39)

[St. Thomas on St. Francis]: "for even as a youth, he ran to war
against his father, on behalf of her –
the lady unto whom, just as to death,
none willingly unlocks the door; before
his spiritual court et coram patre,
he wed her; day by day he loved her more.
She was bereft of her first husband; scorned,
obscure, for some eleven hundred years,
until that sun came, she had had no suitor.
Nor did it help her when men heard that he
who made earth tremble found her unafraid –
serene, with Amyclas – when he addressed her;
nor did her constancy and courage help
when she, even when Mary stayed below,
suffered with Christ upon the cross. But so
that I not tell my tale too darkly, you
may now take Francis and take Poverty
to be the lovers meant in my recounting.
Their harmony and their glad looks, their love
and wonder and their gentle contemplation,
served others as a source of holy thoughts; (Par. XI, 58-78)

[King Solomon]: …"As long as the festivity
of Paradise shall be, so long shall our
love radiate around us such a garment.
Its brightness takes its measure from our ardor,
our ardor from our vision, which is measured
by what grace each receives beyond his merit.
When, glorified and sanctified, the flesh
is once again our dress, our persons shall,
in being all complete, please all the more;
therefore, whatever light gratuitous
the Highest Good gives us will be enhanced –
the light that will allow us to see Him;
that light will cause our vision to increase,
the ardor vision kindles to increase,
the brightness born of ardor to increase." (Par. XIV, 37-51)

[Cacciaguida to Dante]: …"The man who gave your family
its name, who for a century and more
has circled the first ledge of Purgatory,
was son to me and was your great-grandfather;
it is indeed appropriate for you
to shorten his long toil with your good works." (Par. XV, 91-96)

[Dante to St. John]: And I: "By philosophic arguments
and by authority whose source is here,
that love must be imprinted in me; for
the good, once it is understood as such,
enkindles love; and in accord with more
goodness comes greater love. And thus the mind
of anyone who can discern the truth
on which this proof is founded must be moved
to love, more than it loves all else, that Essence
which is preeminent (since any good
that lies outside of It is nothing but
a ray reflected from Its radiance).
My mind discerns this truth, made plain by him
who demonstrates to me that the first love
of the eternal beings is their Maker." (Par. XXVI, 25-39)

[Dante to St. John]: Thus I began again: "My charity
results from all those things whose bite can bring
the heart to turn to God; the world's existence
and mine, the death that He sustained that I
might live, and that which is the hope of all
believers, as it is my hope, together
with living knowledge I have spoken of –
these drew me from the sea of twisted love
and set me on the shore of the right love.
The leaves enleaving all the garden of
the Everlasting Gardener, I love
according to the good He gave to them." (Par. XXVI, 55-66)

That love whose warmth allowed this flower to bloom
within the everlasting peace – was love
rekindled in your womb; for us above,
you are the noonday torch of charity,
and there below, on earth, among the mortals,
you are a living spring of hope. Lady,
you are so high, you can so intercede,
that he who would have grace but does not seek
your aid, may long to fly but has no wings.
Your loving-kindness does not only answer
the one who asks, but it is often ready
to answer freely long before the asking.
In you compassion is, in you is pity,
in you is generosity, in you
is every goodness found in any creature. (Par. XXXIII, 7-21)

Whoever sees that Light is soon made such
that it would be impossible for him
to set that Light aside for other sight;
because the good, the object of the will,
is fully gathered in that Light; outside
that Light, what there is perfect is defective. (Par. XXXIII, 100-105)

But then my mind was struck by light that flashed
and, with this light, received what it had asked.
Here force failed my high fantasy; but my
desire and will were moved already – like
a wheel revolving uniformly – by
the Love that moves the sun and the other stars. (Par. XXXIII, 140-145)