“It may be that what we call modern is nothing, but what is not worthy of remaining to become old.”

“To course across more kindly waters nowmy talent's little vessel lifts her sails,leaving behind herself a sea so cruel; and what I sing will be that second kingdom,in which the human soul is cleansed of sin,becoming worthy of ascent to Heaven.”

“The broken branch hissed loudly, and then thatwind was converted into these words: "Briefly willyou be answered.When the fierce soul departs from the body fromwhich it has uprooted itself, Minos sends it to theseventh mouth.It falls into the wood, and no place is assigned toit, but where chance hurls it, there it sprouts like agrain of spelt.It grows into a shoot, then a woody plant; theHarpies, feeding on its leaves, give it pain and awindow for the pain.Like the others, we will come for our remains, butnot so that any may put them on again, for it is notjust to have what one has taken from oneself.Here we will drag them, and through the sadwood our corpses will hang, each on the thornbrushof the soul that harmed it.”

“Open your mind to what I shall disclose, and hold it fast within you; he who hears, but does not hold what he has heard, learns nothing.”

“We were men once, though we've become trees”

“They yearn for what they fear for.”

“Midway along the journey of our lifeI woke to find myself in a dark wood,for I had wandered off from the straight path.How hard it is to tell what it was like,this wood of wilderness, savage and stubborn(the thought of it brings back all my old fears),a bitter place! Death could scarce be bitterer.But if I would show the good that came of itI must talk about things other than the good.”