“This mountain is so formed that it is always wearisome when one begins the ascent, but becomes easier the higher one climbs.”

“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.”

“Love, which absolves no one beloved from loving,seized me so strongly with his charm that,as you see, it has not left me yet.Love brought us to one death.”

“And all the while one spirit uttered this,The other one did weep so, that, for pity,I swooned away as if I had been dying,And fell, even as a dead body falls.”

“And following its path, we took no careTo rest, but climbed: he first, then I-- so far,Through a round aperture I saw appearSome of the beautiful things that Heaven bears,Where we came forth, and once more saw the stars.”

“Love, that exempts no one beloved from loving,Seized me with pleasure of this man so strongly,That, as thou seest, it doth not yet desert me.”

“In that book which is my memory,On the first page of the chapter that is the day when I first met you,Appear the words, ‘Here begins a new life’.”