Dante (Durante degli Alighieri), 1265 - 1312
Profile by Sandro Botticelli (1495)
Born: 14 May 1265, Florence
Died: 14 September 1321, Ravenna
Dante was born at Florence, the date is a stab in the dark. Nothing is known of his early life or education. He met the love of his life, Beatrice, at nine, and was contracted to marry Gemma at twelve. He had five children with Gemma, but made Beatrice important in his poetry. He became an apothecary when the law required membership in one of the guilds for political participation, and was on the wrong side in the politics of Florence. When his side lost in 1301, he was staying in the Vatican and was sentenced to death in absentia. Dante began the Divine Comedy, his best-known work, in 1308, which established the vernacular of Tuscany as the Italian language. Before that time, published works in any language other than Latin were rare and treated with little respect. His hometown had a change of heart about their most famous son and created a tomb for him in 1829. They even overturned his death sentence in June of 2008. The people of Ravenna, where he lived after his exile, have refused to part with his remains.
Biography from Wikipedia and the Catholic Encyclopedia
Dante Alighieri quotes:
Quotes found : 56 — (15 per page, this is page 1 of 4) 1 2 3 4 Next
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- A fair request should be followed by the deed in silence. permalink
Dante Alighieri - A great flame follows a little spark. permalink
Dante Alighieri - Paradiso Canto I, line 34 (1321) - All hope abandon, ye who enter here. (Italian original: Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch'entrate.) permalink
Dante Alighieri - Inferno Canto III, line 9 (1313) - All hope abandon, ye who enter here. (Latin: Omnes relinquite spes, o vos intrantes) permalink
Dante Alighieri - Inferno Canto III, line 9 (1313) - Art, as far as it is able, follows nature, as a pupil imitates his master; thus your art must be, as it were, God's grandchild. permalink
Dante Alighieri - As little flowers, which the chill of night has bent and huddled, when the white sun strikes, grow straight and open fully on their stems, so did I, too, with my exhausted force. permalink
Dante Alighieri - Inferno (1313) - As one who sees in dreams and wakes to find the emotional impression of his vision still powerful while its parts fade from his mind — Just such am I, having lost nearly all the vision itself, while in my heart I feel the sweetness of it yet distill and fall. permalink
Dante Alighieri - Paradiso (1321) - Avarice, envy, pride; three fatal sparks, have set on fire the souls of man. permalink
Dante Alighieri - Be as a tower firmly set; Shakes not its top for any blast that blows. permalink
Dante Alighieri - Beauty awakens the soul to act. permalink
Dante Alighieri - But already my desire and my will were being turned like a wheel, all at one speed, by the Love which moves the sun and the other stars. permalink
Dante Alighieri - Consider that this day ne'er dawns again. permalink
Dante Alighieri - Consider your origin;
you were not born to live like brutes,
but to follow virtue and knowledge. permalink
Dante Alighieri - Inferno Canto XXVI, lines 118-120 (1313) - Do not be afraid; our fate
Cannot be taken from us; it is a gift. permalink
Dante Alighieri - Inferno (1313) - For what is liberty but the unhampered translation of will into act? permalink
Dante Alighieri
Quotes found : 56 — (15 per page, this is page 1 of 4) 1 2 3 4 Next
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