I by not doing, not by doing, lost The sight of that high sun which thou desirest, And which too late by me was recognized. - Dante Alighieri

I by not doing, not by doing, lost

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].

No fuisteis criados para vivir como bestias
sino para seguir en pos de la virtud y la sabiduría.

like a mother wakened by a midnight noise to find a wall of flame at her bedside (who takes her child and runs, and more concerned for him than for herself, does not pause even to throw a wrap about her)