Q0391
Dante Alighieri
A verified English rendering from the curated archive.
English
There is no greater pain than to recall happy times in misery.
Source context
This English passage is associated with Inferno V.121–123, within the tradition of Medieval Thought. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.
A short reading
Read in the register of memory, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Dante Alighieri's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?
How to cite this quotation
APA: Dante Alighieri. (n.d.). There is no greater pain than to recall happy times in misery. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0391
MLA: Dante Alighieri. “There is no greater pain than to recall….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0391.
Chicago: Dante Alighieri. “There is no greater pain than to recall….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0391.