1. "A mighty flame followeth a tiny spark."
2. “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.”
3. "Avarice, envy, pride,Three fatal sparks, have set the hearts of allOn Fire."
4. “Divine Love, unutterable and perfect, flows into a pure soul the way that light rushes into a transparent object. The more love that it finds, the more that it gives itself; so that, as we grow clear and open, the more complete the joy of loving is. And the more souls who resonate together, the greater the intensity of their love, for, mirror-like, each soul reflects the others.”
5. “Doubting charms me not less than knowledge.”
6. "Follow your own star!"
7. “For what is liberty but the unhampered translation of will into act?”
8. "Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from the eternal."
9. “He loves but little who can say and count in words, how much he loves
10. “High fantasy lost power and here broke off; / Yet, as a wheel moves smoothly, free from jars, / My will and my desire were turned by love, / The love that moves the sun and other starts.”
11. "I love to doubt as well as know."
12. “Knowledge comesOf learning well retain'd, unfruitful else.”
13. “Love, that all gentle hearts so quickly know.”
14. “Love, which insists that love love shall mutual be.”
15. "No sorrow is deeper than the remembrance of happiness when in misery."
16. ”O Light Eternal, who in thyself aloneDwell'st and thyself know'st, and self understood,Self understanding, smilest on thine own!That circle which, as I conceived it, glowedWithin thee like reflection of a flame,Being by mine eyes a little longer wooed,Deep in itself, with colour still the same,Seemed with our human effigy to fill,Wherefore absorbed in it my sight became.As the geometer who bends all his willTo measure the circle, and howso'er he tryFails, for the principle escapes him still,Such as this mystery new-disclosed was I,Fain to understand how the image doth alightUpon the circle, and with its form comply.But these my wings were fledged not for that flight,Save that my mind a sudden glory assailedAnd its wish came revealed to it in that light.To the high imagination force now failed;But like to a wheel whose circling nothing jarsAlready on my desire and will prevailedThe Love that moves the sun and the other stars.”
17. “The customs and fashions of men change like leaves on the bough, some of which go and others come.”
18. “The more a thing is perfect, the more it feels pleasure and likewise pain.”
19. “The wisest are the most annoyed at the loss of time.”
20. “This sorrow weighs upon the melancholy souls of those who lived without infamy or praise.”
21. “Thou shalt know by experience how salt the savor is of other's bread, and how sad a path it is to climb and descend another's stairs.”
22. “Three sparks--pride, envy, and avarice--have been kindled in all hearts.”
23. “Through me you pass into the city of woe:Through me you pass into eternal pain:Through me among the people lost for aye.Justice the founder of my fabric moved:To rear me was the task of power divine,Supremest wisdom, and primeval love.Before me things create were none, save thingsEternal, and eternal I shall endure.All hope abandon, ye who enter here."
24. "Why is thy mind so entangled," said the Master, "that thou slackenest thy pace? What is it to thee what they whisper there? Come after me and let the people talk. Stand like a firm tower that never shakes its top for blast of wind."
25. "Will cannot be quenched against its will."
26. “Without hope we live in desire.”
27. “Worldly fame is but a breath of wind that blows now this way, and now that, and changes name as it changes direction.”
