Quotations about:
    sapience

Of all creation’s bounty realized,
God’s greatest gift, the gift in which mankind
is most like Him, the gift by Him most prized,
is the freedom he bestowed upon the will.
All his intelligent creatures, and they alone,
were so endowed, and so endowed are still.

[Lo maggior don che Dio per sua larghezza
fesse creando, e a la sua bontate
più conformato, e quel ch’e’ più apprezza,
fu de la volontà la libertate;
di che le creature intelligenti,
e tutte e sole, fuore e son dotate.]

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Italian poet

The Divine Comedy [Divina Commedia], Book 3 “Paradiso,” Canto 5, l. 19ff (5.19-24) [Beatrice] (1320) [tr. Ciardi (1970)]
    (Source)

(Source (Italian)). Alternate translations:

That gem above all price by wifdom giv'n.
The most distinguish'd boon of fav'ring Heav'n,
The Stamp of Godhead on the human breast,
By him most priz'd, is Liberty of Choice;
A gift by none beneath the ambient Skies
But happy rationals alone possest.
[tr. Boyd (1802), st. 5]

Supreme of gifts, which God creating gave
Of his free bounty, sign most evident
Of goodness, and in his account most priz’d,
Was liberty of will, the boon wherewith
All intellectual creatures, and them sole
He hath endow’d.
[tr. Cary (1814)]

The greatest gift that God, creating, gave
Of his great bounty, and his goodness cost,
And that which he appreciated the most,
Was human liberty and our free will;
With which the creatures of intelligence,
And they alone, were dowered as with sense.
[tr. Bannerman (1850)]

The greatest gift that in his largess God
Creating made, and unto his own goodness
Nearest conformed, and that which he doth prize
Most highly, is the freedom of the will,
Wherewith the creatures of intelligence
Both all and only were and are endowed.
[tr. Longfellow (1867)]

The greatest gift which God of His bounty made in creating, and the most conformed to His goodness, and that which He most values, was the freedom of the will, wherewith the creatures that have intelligence all, and they only, were and are endowed.
[tr. Butler (1885)]

The greatest gift which God's creating grace
Made in His largess, to His clemency
The most conformed, and prized as first in place
Was of the will the perfect liberty,
With which the creatures of intelligence
Were dowered, and are, and they alone.
[tr. Minchin (1885)]

The greatest gift which God in His largess bestowed in creating, and the most conformed unto His goodness and that which He esteems the most, was the freedom of the will, with which all the creatures of intelligence, and they alone, were and are endowed.
[tr. Norton (1892)]

The greatest gift God of his largess made at the creation, and the most conformed to his own excellence, and which he most prizeth,
was the will's liberty, wherewith creatures intelligent, both all and only, were and are endowed.
[tr. Wicksteed (1899)]

The greatest gift that God in His bounty made in creation, the most conformable to His goodness and the one He accounts the most precious, was the freedom of the will, with which the creatures with intelligence, all and only these, were and are endowed.
[tr. Sinclair (1939)]

Of all the gifts God in His bounty extreme
Made when creating, most conformable
To His own goodness, and in His esteem
Most precious, was the liberty of the will,
With which creatures that are intelligent
Were all endowed, they only, and are so still.
[tr. Binyon (1943)]

The greatest gift of God’s largesse, when He
Created all, most prized by Him, and best,
As most akin to His own quality,
Was the will's freedom, crown of all the rest,
Whereof all creatures made intelligent,
They all, they only, were and are possessed.
[tr. Sayers/Reynolds (1962)]

The greatest gift which God in His bounty
bestowed in creating, and to His own goodness
the most conformed, and that which He prizes the most,
was of the will the freedom,
with which the creatures that have intelligence,
they all and they alone, were and are endowed.
[tr. Singleton (1975)]

The greatest gift which God in his open-handedness
Gave in creation, and the gift which most conformed
To his own excellence, and which he most values,
Was that of freedom of the will,
With which creatures created intelligent,
Each and all of them, were and are endowed.
[tr. Sisson (1981)]

The greatest gift the magnanimity
of God, as He created, gave, the gift
most suited to His goodness, gift that He
most prizes, was the freedom of the will;
those beings that have intellect -- all these
and none but these -- received and do receive this gift.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1984)]

The greatest gift that our bounteous Lord
bestowed as the Creator, in creating,
the gift He cherishes the most, the one
most like Himself, was freedom of the will,
All creatures with intelligence, and they
alone, were so endowed both then and now.
[tr. Musa (1984)]

The greatest gift that ever in his bountifulness God gave in creating, and the most conformed to his goodness, the one that is most prized,
was the freedom of the will, with which the creatures with intelligence, all of them and only they, were and are endowed.
[tr. Durling (2011)]

The greatest gift that God made at the Creation, out of his munificence, the one that most fitted his supreme goodness, and which he values most, is Free Will, with which intelligent creatures, all and sundry, were, and are, endowed.
[tr. Kline (2002)]

The greatest gift that God, in spacious deed,
made, all-creating -- and most nearly formed
to His liberality, most prized by Him --
was liberty in actions of the will,
with which all creatures of intelligence --
and they alone -- both were and are endowed.
[tr. Kirkpatrick (2007)]

The greatest gift that God in His largesse
gave to creation, the most attuned
to His goodness and that He accounts most dear,
was the freedom of the will:
all creatures possessed of intellect,
all of them and they alone, were and are so endowed.
[tr. Hollander/Hollander (2007)]

The greatest gift that God, in infinite bounty,
Bestowed on His creation, and the quality
Most like His goodness, as well as what He prices,
Was freedom of will, granted only to creatures
Of intelligence -- exclusively for them,
No others thus endowed.
[tr. Raffel (2010)]