I saw within Its depth how It conceives_x000D_ _x000D_ All things in a single volume bound by Love_x000D_ _x000D_ of which the universe is the scattered leaves.
Dante AlighieriRead
Still desiring, we live without hope.
Interpretation
Desire can lead to a sense of hopelessness if it is unfulfilled.
This quote by Dante Alighieri reflects on the nature of desire and its impact on our emotional state. It suggests that when we continuously desire without the hope of fulfillment, we may find ourselves in a state of despair, indicating that hope is essential for a meaningful and joyful life. The interplay between desire and hope highlights how human aspirations can either uplift or diminish our spirit.
In practice
In a motivational speech about overcoming obstacles.
I saw within Its depth how It conceives_x000D_ _x000D_ All things in a single volume bound by Love_x000D_ _x000D_ of which the universe is the scattered leaves.
Before me things created were none, save things Eternal, and eternal I endure. All hope abandon, ye who enter here.
The customs and fashions of men change like leaves on the bough, some of which go and others come.
Heaven wheels above you, displaying to you her eternal glories, and still your eyes are on the ground.
Pride, envy, avarice - these are the sparks have set on fire the hearts of all men.
Thus you may understand that love alone is the true seed of every merit in you, and of all acts for which you must atone.
It is not that the girl is unfit for everything, it is that she is not of this world.
On this narrow planet, we have only the choice between two unknown worlds. One of them tempts us - ah! what a dream, to live in that! - the other stifles us at the first breath.
I wake up like this, this sense that I've somehow been transported to an alternate universe where my life took a left instead of a right beacuse of some seeemingly insignificant yet cosmically crucial choice I've made, about a girl or a kiss or a date or a job or which Starbucks I went into...something.
This is not a matter of virtue-it's a matter of my choosing to do the work of somehow altering or getting free of my natural, hard-wired default-setting, which is to be deeply and literally self-centered, and to see and interpret everything through this lens of self.
Which, I wonder, brother reader, is the better lot, to die prosperous and famous, or poor and disappointed? To have, and to be forced to yield; or to sink out of life, having played and lost the game? That must be a strange feeling, when a day of our life comes and we say, 'To-morrow, success or failure won't matter much; and the sun will rise, and all the myriads of mankind go to their work or their pleasure as usual, but I shall be out of the turmoil.'
The human soul needs actual beauty more than bread.
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