O clear and noble conscience, how sharply a little fault stings you!
[O dignitosa coscïenza, e netta,
come t’è picciol fallo amaro morso!]Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Italian poet
The Divine Comedy [Divina Commedia], Book 2 “Purgatorio,” Canto 3, l. 8ff (3.8-9) (1314) [tr. Kline (2002)]
(Source)
Observing his guide, Virgil, upset over one of his own lapses.
(Source (Italian)). Alternate translations:
O matchless dignity of stainless thought!
Thus bitter seems to you the taste of Sin!
[tr. Boyd (1802), st. 2]
O clear conscience and upright
How doth a little sting wound thee sore!
[tr. Cary (1814)]
Oh, dignity of conscience, when complete,
How small will bitter make that once was sweet!
[tr. Bannerman (1850)]
O noble conscience, and without a stain,
How sharp a sting is trivial fault to thee!
[tr. Longfellow (1867)]
O conscience, dignified and pure, how bitter a sting is a small fault to thee!
[tr. Butler (1885)]
O conscience honourably pure, to thee
How is a little fault most bitterly shrived!
[tr. Minchin (1885)]
O conscience, upright and stainless, how bitter a sting to thee is little fault!
[tr. Norton (1892)]
O noble conscience and clear, how sharp a sting gives a little fault to thee!
[tr. Wicksteed (1899)]
O pure and noble conscience, how bitter a sting to thee is a little fault!
[tr. Sinclair (1939)]
O honourable conscience, clear and chaste,
How small a fault stings thee to bitter smart!
[tr. Binyon (1943)]
O noble conscience, clear and undefaced,
How keen thy self-reproach for one small slip!
[tr. Sayers (1955)]
O noble conscience without stain! how sharp
the sting of a small fault is to your sense!
[tr. Ciardi (1961)]
O pure and noble conscience, how bitter
a sting is a little fault to you!
[tr. Singleton (1973)]
O dignity of conscience, noble, chaste,
how one slight fault can sting you into shame!
[tr. Musa (1981)]
O conscience so precious and so clear,
How small a fault is a sharp tooth to you!
[tr. Sisson (1981)]
O pure and noble conscience, you in whom
each petty fault becomes a harsh rebuke!
[tr. Mandelbaum (1982)]
O worthy clear conscience, how bitter a bite to you is even a little fault!
[tr. Durling (2003)]
Such dignity of conscience, clear and clean,
bitten so keenly by so slight a fault!
[tr. Kirkpatrick (2007)]
O pure and noble conscience,
how bitter is the sting of your least fault!
[tr. Hollander/Hollander (2007)]
But O, how purest consciences are stung
By tiny faults, bitter on noble tongues!
[tr. Raffel (2010)]
Quotations about:
self-reproach
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
There is luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves, we feel no one else has a right to blame us. It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish poet, wit, dramatist
The Picture of Dorian Gray, ch. 8 (1891)
(Source)
In my head there is a permanent opposition-party; and whenever I take any step or come to any decision — though I may have given the matter mature consideration — it afterward attacks what I have done, without, however, being each time necessarily in the right. This is, I suppose, only a form of rectification on the part of the spirit of scrutiny; but it often reproaches me when I do not deserve it.
[In meinem Kopfe giebt es eine stehende Oppositionspartei, die gegen Alles, was ich, wenn auch mit reiflicher Überlegung, gethan, oder beschlossen habe, nachträglich polemisirt, ohne jedoch darum jedesmal Recht zu haben. Sie ist wohl nur eine Form des berichtigenden Prüfungsgeistes, macht mir aber oft unverdiente Vorwürfe.]
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) German philosopher
Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. 2, ch. 26 “Psychological Observations [Psychologische Bemerkungen],” § 345 (1851) [tr. Saunders (1890)]
(Source)
(Source (German)). Alternate translation:
There is in my mind a standing opposition party which subsequently attacks everything I have done or decided, even after mature consideration, yet without its always being right on that account. It is, I suppose, only a form of the corrective spirit of investigation; but it often casts an unmerited slur on me.
[tr. Payne (1974)]
