O human beings, you’re born to fly straight up,
Why does a little gust of wind bring you down?
[O gente umana, per volar sù nata,
perché a poco vento così cadi?]Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Italian poet
The Divine Comedy [Divina Commedia], Book 2 “Purgatorio,” Canto 12, l. 95ff (12.95-96) (1314) [tr. Bang (2019)]
(Source)
Some translators have this as a comment by Dante on how few takers there are to the Angel of Humility's invitation to ascend higher; others, including most modern translators, make it part of the Angel's speech.
(Source (Italian)). Alternate translations:
Ye Souls for Heav'n design'd! ye Sons of Day!
Why should a random breeze o'erset your fail
When heav'n-ward bound?
[tr. Boyd (1802), st. 18]
O ye race of men
Though born to soar, why suffer ye a wind
So slight to baffle ye?
[tr. Cary (1814)]
O human race! whose birthright is to soar,
How little wind will make your course give o'er!
[tr. Bannerman (1850)]
O human creatures, born to soar aloft,
Why fall ye thus before a little wind?
[tr. Longfellow (1867)]
O race of men, born to fly upward, why at a little wind fall ye so down?
[tr. Butler (1885)]
O human race, though born above to soar,
Why at the slightest breath dost thou thus fall ?
[tr. Minchin (1885)]
O human race, born to fly upward, why before a little wind dost thou so fall?
[tr. Norton (1892)]
O human folk, born to fly upward, why at a breath of wind thus fall ye down?
[tr. Okey (1901)]
O race of men, born to fly upward, why do you fall back so for a little wind?
[tr. Sinclair (1939)]
O human spirits, upward born to spring,
Why fall ye down at a brief blast of air?
[tr. Binyon (1943)]
O human race, born to take flight and soar,
Why fall ye, for one breath of wind, to earth?
[tr. Sayers (1955)]
O sons of man, born to ascend on high,
how can so slight a wind-puff make you fall?
[tr. Ciardi (1961)]
O race of men, born to fly upward,
why do you fall so at a breath of wind?
[tr. Singleton (1973)]
O race of men, born to fly heavenward,
how can a breath of wind make you fall back?
[tr. Musa (1981)]
O human race, born to fly upwards,
Why do you fall at such a little breeze?
[tr. Sisson (1981)]
O humankind, born for the upward flight,
why are you driven back by wind so slight?
[tr. Mandelbaum (1982)]
O human race, born to fly upward, why do you fall at so little wind?
[tr. Durling (2003)]
O human race, born to soar, why do you fall so, at a breath of wind?
[tr. Kline (2002)]
O human nature! You are born to fly!
Why fail and fall at, merely, puffs of wind?
[tr. Kirkpatrick (2007)]
O race of man, born to fly on high,
why does a puff of wind cause you to fall?
[tr. Hollander/Hollander (2007)]
O human race, born to fly on high,
How can the slightest breeze blow dust in your eyes?
[tr. Raffel (2010)]
Quotations about:
discouragement
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
There is nothing more common than to hear of men losing their energy on being raised to a higher position, to which they do not feel themselves equal.
[Nichts gewöhnlicher ist als Beispiele von Männern, die ihre Thätigkeit verlieren, sobald sie zu höheren Stellen gelangen, denen ihre Einsichten nicht mehr gewachsen sind.]
Karl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) Prussian soldier, historian, military theorist
On War [Vom Kriege], Book 1, ch. 3 “On Military Genius [Der Kriegerishe Genius],” (1.3) (1832) [tr. Graham (1873)]
(Source)
(Source (German)). Alternate translations:
There is nothing more common than to hear of men losing their energy on being raised to a higher position, to which their abilities are no longer equal.
[tr. Jolles (1943)]
No case is more common than that of the officer whose energy declines as he rises in rank and fills positions that are beyond his abilities.
[tr. Howard & Paret (1976)]
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.
Approach the easy as though it were difficult, and the difficult as though it were easy; the first, lest overconfidence make you careless, and the second, lest faint-heartedness make you afraid.
[Lo fácil se ha de emprender como dificultoso, y lo dificultoso como fácil. Allí porque la confianza no descuide, aquí porque la desconfianza no desmaye.]
Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 204 (1647) [tr. Fischer (1937)]
(Source)
(Source (Spanish)). Alternate translations:
What is easie ought to be set about, as if it were difficult; and what is difficult as if it were easie. The one for fear of slackening through too much confidence; and the other for fear of losing courage through too much apprehensiveness.
[Flesher ed. (1685)]
Attempt easy tasks as if they were difficult, and difficult as if they were easy. In the one case that confidence may not fall asleep, in the other that it may not be dismayed.
[tr. Jacobs (1892)]
Undertake the easy as though it were difficult, and the difficult as though it were easy, so as not to grow overconfident or discouraged.
[tr. Maurer (1992)]
