Ne li occhi porta la mia donna Amore, per che si fa gentil ciò ch’ella mira; ov’ella passa, ogn’om ver lei si gira, e cui saluta fa tremar lo core, s… - Dante Alighieri

The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis

They had their faces twisted toward their haunches and found it necessary to walk backward, because they could not see ahead of them. ...And since he wanted so to see ahead, he looks behind and walks a backward path.

Whoever is so misguided as to think that the place of his birth is the most delightful spot under the sun may also believe that his own language — his mother tongue, that is — is pre-eminent among all others; and, as a result he may believe that his language was also Adam’s. To me, however, the whole world is a homeland, like the sea to fish — though I drank from the Arno before cutting my teeth, and love Florence so much that, because I loved her suffer exile unjustly — and I will weight the balance of my judgment more with reason than with [sensation].