The man who lies asleep will never waken fame,
and his desire and all his life drift past him like a dream,
and the traces of his memory fade from and his desire
and all his life drift past him like a dream,
and the traces of his memory fade from time like smoke in air,
or ripples on a stream.
Inferno, Canto XXIV
There is no greater sorrow
Than to remember the happy times
In misery.
Inferno, Canto V.
O human race, born to fly upward,
wherefore at a little wind dost thou so fall?
Purgatorio, Canto XII
But my own wings were not enough for this,
Had it not been that then my mind there smote
A flash of lightning, wherein came its wish.
Here vigour failed the lofty fantasy:
But now was turning my desire and will,
Even as a wheel that equally is moved,
The Love which moves the sun and the other stars.
Paradiso, Canto XXXIII