The following lines are taken from the
Inferno at the beginning of
Canto III of
Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy. After reading the whole of
Inferno,
Purgatorio and
Paradiso (Translated by
C.H. Sisson) I found these lines to be the ones that stuck in my head.
Canto III
'Through me you go into the
city of weeping;
Through me you go into
eternal pain;
Through me you go among the lost people.
Justice is what moved my exalted
Maker;
I was the invention of the power of
God,
Of his wisdom, and of his primal love.
Before me there was nothing that was created
Except
eternal things; I am eternal:
No room for hope, when you enter this place.'