"There is no other action at those heights; What the questing soul once was it has ceased to be. Neither heat nor fiery love Nor suffering has place here. This is not light as the soul has imagined it. All it had sought it must now forget, And pass on to a new world, Beyond its powers of perception."

"Love beyond all telling, Goodness beyond imagining, Light of infinite intensity Glows in my heart."

"On achieving their desired end Human powers cease to function, And the soul sees that what it thought was right Was wrong. A new exchange occurs At that point where all light disappears; A new and unsought state is needed: The soul has what it did not love, And is stripped of all it possessed, no matter how dear."

"Love, where did You enter the heart unseen? Lovable Love, joyful Love, unthinkable Love, In Your plenitude You lie far beyond the reach of reason. Love, jocund and joyous, Divine fire, You do not stint Of your endlessly beautiful riches"

"Love, infusing with light all who share Your splendor, You teach us the true light Is not to be found in the light of this world. Light that enlightens, light that teaches, He who is not illumined by You Does not reach the fullness of love. Love, You give light To the intellect in darkness And illumine the Object of love. Love, Your ardor, Which enflames the heart, Unites it with the Incarnate One."

"In losing all, the soul has risen To the pinnacle of the measureless; Because it has renounced all That is not divine, It now holds in its grasp The unimaginable Good In all its abundance, A loss and a gain impossible to describe."

"To lose and to hold tightly, To love and take delight in, To gaze upon and contemplate, To possess utterly, To float in that immensity And to rest therein -- That is the work of unceasing exchange Of charity and truth."

"The soul wills and yet does not will: Its will belongs to Another. It has eyes only for this beauty; It no longer seeks to possess, as was its wont -- It lacks the strength to possess such sweetness. The base of this highest of peaks Is founded on nichil [nothing], Shaped nothingness, made one with the Lord."

"In God the spiritual faculties Come to their desired end, Lose all sense of self and self-consciousness, And are swept into infinity. The soul, made new again, Marveling to find itself In that immensity, drowns. How this comes about it does not know."

"Now, a new creature, I in Christ am born, The old man stripped away; -- I am new-made; And mounting in me, like the sun at morn, Love breaks my heart, even as a broken blade: Christ, First and Only Fair, from me hath shorn My will, my wits, and all that in me stayed, I in His arms am laid, I cry and call -- O Thou my All, O let me die of Love!"

"O Love, divine Love, why do You lay siege to me? In a frenzy of love for me, You find no rest. From five sides You move against me: Hearing, sight, taste, touch, and scent. To come out is to be caught; I cannot hide from You. If I come out through sight I see Love Painted in every form and color, Inviting me to come to You, to dwell in You. If I leave through the door of hearing, What I hear points only to You, Lord; I cannot escape Love through this gage. If I come out through taste, every flavor proclaims: "Love, divine Love, hungering Love! You have caught me on Your hook, for you want to reign in me." If I leave through the door of scent I sense You in all creation; You have caught me And wounded me through that fragrance. If I come out through the sense of touch I find Your lineaments in every creature; To try to flee from You is madness."

"One of the greatest and most interesting Italian mystical poets: Jacopone da Todi, the typical singer of the Franciscan movement, the first writer of philosophic religious poetry, and perhaps the most picturesque figure in the history of early Italian literature...this vigorous missionary and subtle philosopher: this poet, by turns crude satirist, ardent lover, and profound contemplative, who can sink to the level of the popular hymnal and rise above that of St. John of the Cross...a hard and avaricious lawyer, converted in middle life by crushing domestic sorrow, who renounces the world, accepts Franciscan poverty, in its most drastic sense, and becomes like brother Juniper a "fool for Christ"...A rich and complete human experience, a fully-developed physical, emotional and intellectual life, was the foundation from which Jacopone climbed up to those heights where he had communion with the Eternal Order and satisfied at last his craving for perfection. Thither he carried a warmth of human feeling, a passionate energy, a romantic fervour, which represent the spiritualization of qualities developed not in the cloister but in the world."

"As air becomes the medium for light when the sun rises, And as wax melts from the heat of fire, So the soul drawn to that light is resplendent, Feels self melt away, Its will and actions no longer its own. So clear is the imprint of God That the soul, conquered, is conqueror; Annihilated, it lives in triumph. What happens to the drop of wine That you pour into the sea? Does it remain itself, unchanged? It is as if it never existed. So it is with the soul: Love drinks it in, It is united with Truth, Its old nature fades away, It is no longer master of itself."

"They do not speak of boundless skies, of passing loves like silver clouds. They speak of cheerless towns, unwound: on hazy moors of muffled music."

"If you talk to the shadows, at least you know them well and the words, all of them, unfold themselves with ease on muddled walls and streets, when dusk comes on."

"Risguardiami; se sa legger d’amore, Ch’ io porto morte scritta nella faccia."

"(Che) nessuna scienza Senz’ ammaestratura Non saglie in grande altura Per proprio sentimento."

"Fere lo sol lo fango tutto ’l giorno; Vil riman, ne il sol perde colore."

"A buon servente guiderdon non pere."

"[A]udacious Titan of the modern age, possessing essentially a combative intellect; a poet and philosopher militant, who stood alone making war upon the authority of Aristotle in science, of Machiavelli in statecraft, and of Petrarch in art."

"If You return to earth, come armed Lord, because enemies are preparing other crosses —not Turks, not Jews—but those of Your own kingdom"

"The world is the book where the eternal Wisdom wrote its own concepts"

"I learn more from the anatomy of an ant or a blade of grass...than from all the books which have been written since the beginning of time. This is so, since I have begun...to read the book of God...the model according to which I correct the human books which have been copied badly and arbitrarily and without attention to the things that are written in the original book of the Universe."

"Chi stampa un libro, par che sia obbligato A saper, quasi fosse Angiol celeste, Quanto è mai stato scritto, oppur sognato."

"Stampano i dotti e stampan gli ignoranti Libri diversi; e peggiorando invecchia Il mondo, in mezzo di tanti libri e tanti."

"Il più tristo mestier che mai sia stato, Che sia, che mai sarà nel mondo tutto, A mio parere, è quel del letterato."

"Non conoscendo Dio, come mai puoi Vantarti di dottrina? essendo cieco, De’ colori esser giudice tu vuoi."

"(Ma) l’animo gentile gentil sempre pon mente Al buon cuor di chi dà, non al presente."

"La moglie è vita, o coltello e capresto, Conforme vuoi."

"(Che) rinsanisce alcun pazzo talora, Ma il cervel de l’amante ognor peggiora."

"Ogni stato ha i suoi guai; e chi desia, Mutando il suo, trovarne un più giocondo, Cadde in una grandissima pazzia."

"Ne le guerre d’Amore Amor (proverbio è trito,) Vince chi fugge, e non chi si cimenta."

"L’uomo saggio sopra del suo dosso Non deve portar peso che lo sfianchi, Onde dica piangendo : io non lo posso."

"(Ma) così sono tutte le ragazze; Le più savie al di fuor son le più pazze."

"Chi semina del male, e poi si crede Raccor del bene, è temerario e stolto."

"Nessuno sa quel sia, che termin abbia La divina pietà verso di noi; Perchè ella è immensa, e men si può peccare Di quelle ch’ella possa perdonare."

"Ciascun si stima di gran senno, e crede Dovizia aver di cio ch’ei più mendica; E dà del matto e del malenso altrui."

"(Ma) vince Amore amor di padre ogni altro amore."

"Tra i benefizi che ci ha fatto Iddio, Non è mica il minor quelle del vino."

"(Che) nodo mai si forte non si stringe Che sciolto e rotto a lungo andar non sia."

"Donna che sia pregata non sta forte."

"Quei che aggiunge sapere, aggiunge affanno; E men si dolgon quelli che men sanno."

"Che perduto il buon nome, una fanciulla, Per bella ch’ella sia, non val più nulla."

"(Che) la natura umana è fatta in guisa Che si mantien di lagrime e di risa."

"Son ciance e be’ trovati Di romanzieri pazzi e spiritati."

"Che la Fortuna ajuta i coraggiosi."

"Rimembrar il ben perduto Fa più meschino lo presente stato."

"Natura è gran maestra, e mai non erra."

"(Che) non torri superbi e forti mura, Non larghe fosse, non fiumi vicini Fan da’ nimici una città sicura, Ma la fede e il Valore valor de’ cittadini."

"Chi pecca per amore, io non riprendo."