In honor of Valentine's Day, I thought I would share my favorite quote about love with you! There are many quotes about love that we often hear repeated in our culture and throughout our literature and all of them are lovely.
"Love is a many splendid thing,"
"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and... well you know the rest.
But my absolute favorite is from Dante's The Divine Comedy
"Beatrice upward gazed, and I on her;
And in the time perhaps it takes an arrow
To strike the bull’s-eye, fly, and leave the bow,
I saw myself arrived at a thing of wonder
Which drew my sight to it, and therefore she
From whom my close concerns could not be hidden
Turned toward me, as glad as she was lovely,
And said, "Direct your mind with thanks to God
Who here has made us one with the first star."
I am still trying to work out why I love this quote so much. Perhaps because I think Dante's dedication to Beatrice and the beauty, art and purity she represents is epic, in every sense of the word. This man made her the great work of his lifetime. He literally gave her immortality through literature. He figuratively went to Hell and back for her. Swoon much?
On a more spiritual note... If you continue reading the quote, I think you can gather from it and Dore's painting that Beatrice has led Dante to the gates of Paradise. She understands, as does Dante the author, that the truest, deepest union of two souls is Holy and cannot flourish without God.
I am not a Dante expert, but I like to think that's what is going on here. A more eloquent way of saying that a woman's heart should be so lost in God, that he has to find Him before he can love her.
To my fellow lonely Beatrice's out there this Valentine's Day, keep gazing on God and it will all work out :)
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