Homer Quotes

Be still my heart; thou hast known worse than this.

It is tedious to tell again tales already plainly told.

Is he not sacred, even to the gods, the wandering man who comes in weariness?

Marge, when I join an underground cult I expect a little support from my family.

Now from his breast into the eyes the ache
of longing mounted, and he wept at last,
his dear wife, clear and faithful, in his arms,
longed for as the sunwarmed earth is longed for by a swimmer
spent in rough water where his ship went down
under Poseidon's blows, gale winds and tons of sea.
Few men can keep alive through a big serf
to crawl, clotted with brine, on kindly beaches
in joy, in joy, knowing the abyss behind:
and so she too rejoiced, her gaze upon her husband,
her white arms round him pressed as though forever.

What is proper to hear, no one, human or divine, will hear before you.

Fame was like a drug. But what was even more like a drug were the drugs.

A small rock holds back a great wave.

Oh, mother! since thy son To early death by destiny is doom'd, I might have hop'd the Thunderer on high, Olympian Jove, with honour would have crown'd My little space; but now disgrace is mine; Since Agamemnon, the wide-ruling King, Hath wrested from me, and still holds, my prize. Weeping, he spoke; his Goddess-mother heard, Beside her aged father where she sat In the deep ocean-caves: ascending quick Through the dark waves, like to a misty cloud, Beside her son she stood; and as he wept, She

Like a girl, a baby running after her mother, begging to be picked up, and she tugs on her skirts, holding her back as she tries to hurry off - all tears, fawning up at her, till she takes her in her arms ... That's how you look, Patroclus, streaming live tears.

And bear unmov'd the wrongs of base mankind,
The last, and hardest, conquest of the mind.

Public transportation is for jerks and lesbians.

Hektor, argue me no agreements. I cannot forgive you.
As there are no trustworthy oaths between men and lions,
nor wolves and lambs have spirit that can be brought to agreement
but forever these hold feelings of hate for each other,
so there can be no love between you and me, nor shall there be
oaths between us, but one or the other must fall before then
to glut with his blood Ares the god who fights under the shield's guard.

Always be the best, my boy, the bravest, and hold your head up high above all the others. Never disgrace the generation of your fathers. They were the bravest champions ...

Fear, O Achilles, the wrath of heaven; think on your own father and have compassion upon me, who am the more pitiable

My life is more to me than all the wealth of Ilius

But you, Achilles,/ There is not a man in the world more blest than you--/ There never has been, never will be one./ Time was, when you were alive, we Argives/ honored you as a god, and now down here, I see/ You Lord it over the dead in all your power./ So grieve no more at dying, great Achilles.'

I reassured the ghost, but he broke out protesting,/ 'No winning words about death to me, shining Odysseus!/ By god, I'd rather slave on earth for another man--/ Some dirt-poor tenant farmer who scrapes to keep alive - than rule down here over all the breathless dead.

But they could neither of them persuade me, for there is nothing dearer to a man than his own country and his parents, and however splendid a home he may have in a foreign country, if it be far from father or mother, he does not care about it.

The stars never lie, but the astrologers lie about the stars.

Young men's minds are always changeable, but when an old man is concerned in a matter, he looks both before and after.

Heaven has appointed us dwellers on earth a time for all things.

A decent boldness ever meets with friends.

Man is the vainest of all
creatures that have their being upon earth. As long as heaven
vouchsafes him health and strength, he thinks that he shall come to
no harm hereafter, and even when the blessed gods bring sorrow upon
him, he bears it as he needs must, and makes the best of it; for
God Almighty gives men their daily minds day by day. I know all
about it, for I was a rich man once, and did much wrong in the
stubbornness of my pride, and in the confidence that my father and
my brothers would support me; therefore let a man fear God in all
things always, and take the good that heaven may see fit to send
him without vainglory.

If you are one of earth's inhabitants, how blest your father, and your gentle mother, blest all your kin. I know what happiness must send the warm tears to their eyes, each time they see their wondrous child go to the dancing! But one man's destiny is more than blest - he who prevails, and takes you as his bride. Never have I laid eyes on equal beauty in man or woman. I am hushed indeed.

By mutual confidence and mutual aid - great deeds are done, and great discoveries made

I, for one, know of no sweeter sight for a man's eyes than his own country.

One who contends with immortals lives a very short life.

There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.

And his good wife will tear her cheeks in grief, his sons are orphans and he, soaking the soil red with his own blood, he rots away himself - more birds than women flocking round his body!

I'll get out of this city alive, even if it kills me!

A councilor ought not to sleep the whole night through, a man to whom the populace is entrusted, and who has many responsibilities.

You don't win friends with salad.

Why have you come to me here, dear heart, with all these instructions? I promise you I will do everything just as you ask. But come closer. Let us give in to grief, however briefly, in each other's arms.

[But] age, the common enemy of mankind, has laid his hand upon you; would that it had fallen upon some other, and that you were still young.

There is no greater glory that can befall a man that what he achieves with the speed of his feet or the strength of his hands.

All deaths are hateful to miserable mortals, but the most pitiable death of all is to starve.

Young people are thoughtless as a rule.

I'm not a bath man myself. More of a cologne man.

A hopeless exile from his native home, From death alone exempt - but cease to mourn; Let all combine to achieve his wish'd return; Neptune atoned, his wrath shall now refrain, Or thwart the synod of the gods in vain.

Yea, and if some god shall wreck me in the wine-dark deep,
even so I will endure ...
For already have I suffered full much,
and much have I toiled in perils of waves and war.
Let this be added to the tale of those.

Without a sign, his sword the brave man draws, and asks no omen, but his country's cause.

When are people going to learn? Democracy doesn't work.

And woe succeeds woe.

A man who has been through bitter experiences and travelled far enjoys even his sufferings after a time

And let Apollo drive Prince Hector back to battle,
breathe power back in his lungs, make him forget
the pain that racks his heart. Let him whip the Achaeans
in headlong panic rout and roll them back once more,
tumbling back on the oar-swept ships of Peleus' son Achilles.
And he, will launch his comrade Patroclus into action
and glorious Hector will cut him down with a spear
in front of Troy, once Patroclus has slaughtered
whole battalions of strong young fighting men
and among them all, my shining son Sarpedon.
But then - enraged for Patroclus -
brilliant Achilles will bring Prince Hector down.
And then, from that day on, I'll turn the tide of war:
back the fighting goes, no stopping it, ever.

I don't know how much longer I can complain.

From his tongue flowed speech sweeter than honey.

Sweet sleep fell upon his eyelids, unwakeful, most pleasant, the nearest like death.

Who ne'er knew salt, or heard the billows roar.

No season now for calm, familiar talk.

A man dies still if he has done nothing, as one who has done much.

The lord of distant archery, Apollo,
answered:
Lord of earthquake, sound of mind
you could not call me if I strove with you
for the sake of mortals, poor things that they are.
Ephemeral as the flamelike budding leaves,
men flourish on the ripe wheat of the grainland,
then in spiritless age they waste and die.

τέτλαθι δή, κραδίη: καὶ κύντερον ἄλλο ποτ᾽ ἔτλης.
-
Be patient, my heart: for you have endured things worse than this before.

Persuasive speech, and more persuasive sighs, Silence that spoke and eloquence of eyes.

Beyond his strength no man can fight, although he be eager.

It is unfortunate for us, that, of some of the greatest men, we know least, and talk most.

Money can be exchanged for goods and services!

Hateful to me as are the gates of hell, Is he who, hiding one thing in his heart, Utters another.

You will certainly not be able to take the lead in all things yourself, for to one man a god has given deeds of war, and to another the dance, to another lyre and song, and in another wide-sounding Zeus puts a good mind.

Even a fool learns something once it hits him.

Ruin, eldest daughter of Zeus, she blinds us all, that fatal madness - she with those delicate feet of hers, never touching the earth, gliding over the heads of men to trap us all. She entangles one man, now another.

A generous friendship no cold medium knows,
Burns with one love, with one resentment glows;
One should our interests and our passions be,
My friend must hate the man that injures me.

By their own follies they perished, the fools.

Let me not then die ingloriously and without a struggle, but let me first do some great thing that shall be told among men hereafter.

Internet! Is that thing still around?

The bitter dregs of Fortune's cup to drain.

Better to be the hireling of a stranger, and serve a man of mean estate whose living is but small, than be the ruler over all these dead and gone.

Take thou thy arms and come with me,
For we must quit ourselves like men, and strive
To air our cause, although we be but two.
Great is the strength of feeble arms combined,
And we can combat even with the brave.

... and they limp and halt, they're all wrinkled, drawn, they squint to the side, can't look you in the eyes, and always bent on duty, trudging after Ruin, maddening, blinding Ruin. But Ruin is strong and swift - She outstrips them all by far, stealing a march, leaping over the whole wide earth to bring mankind to grief.

What greater glory attends a man than what he wins with his racing feet and his striving hands?

The skin of the coward changes color all the time, he can't get a grip on himself, he can't sit still, he squats and rocks, shifting his weight from foot to foot, his heart racing, pounding inside the fellow's ribs, his teeth chattering. He dreads some grisly death. But the skin of a brave soldier never blanches. He's all control. Tense but no great fear.

But the Achaian men went silently, breathing valor, stubbornly minded each in his heart to stand by the others.

stood for a while and looked about him, but when he had looked long enough he crossed the threshold and went within the precincts of the house. There he found all the chief people among the Phaeacians making their drink offerings to Mercury, which they always did the last thing before going away for the night. 61 He went straight through the court, still hidden by the cloak of darkness in which Minerva had enveloped him, till he reached Arete and King Alcinous; then he laid his hands upon the knees of the queen, and at that moment the miraculous darkness fell away from him and

Life is largely a matter of expectation.

Perverse mankind! whose wills, created free, Charge all their woes on absolute degree; All to the dooming gods their guilt translate, And follies are miscall'd the crimes of fate.

Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.

A little child born yesterday
A thing on mother's milk and kisses fed.

Blame the guy who doesn't speak Engish.

To labour is the lot of man below; And when Jove gave us life, he gave us woe.

By Jove the stranger and the poor are sent, and what to those we give, to Jove is lent.

For love deceives the best of woman kind.

'T is fortune gives us birth, But Jove alone endues the soul with worth.

Yet while my Hector still survives, I see My father, mother, brethren, all in thee.

Friend, that was not well spoken; you seem like one who is reckless. So it is that the gods do not bestow graces in all ways on men, neither in stature nor yet in brains or eloquence; for there is a certain kind of man, less noted for beauty, but the god puts comeliness on his words, and they who look toward him are filled with joy at the sight, and he speaks to them without faltering in winning modesty, and shines among those who are gathered, and people look on him as on a god when he walks in the city. Another again in his appearance is like the immortals, but upon his words there is no grace distilled, as in your case the appearance is conspicuous, and not a god even would make it otherwise, and yet the mind there is worthless.

Ah how shameless – the way these mortals blame the gods. From us alone they say come all their miseries yes but they themselves with their own reckless ways compound their pains beyond their proper share.

She spoke and loosened from her bosom the embroidered girdle of many colors into which all her allurements were fashioned. In it was love and int desire which steals the mind even of the wise.

The generation of mankind is like the generation of leaves. The wind scatters the leaves on the ground, but the living tree burgeons with leaves again in the spring.

The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, as it pleases him, for he can do all things.

If fifty bands of men surrounded us/ and every sword sang for your blood,/ you could make off still with their cows and sheep.

First you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women.

And rest at last where souls unbodied dwell,
In ever-flowing meads of Asphodel.

Far from the hateful cause of all his woes. Neleus his treasures one long year detains, As long he groan'd in Philacus' chains: Meantime, what anguish and what rage combined For lovely Pero rack'd his labouring mind!

Among all men on the earth bards have a share of honor and reverence, because the muse has taught them songs and loves the race of bards.

Probability is a powerful and troublesome test; and it is by this troublesome standard that a large portion of historical evidence is sifted. Consistency is no less pertinacious and exacting in its demands.

Forgetful youth! but know, the Power above With ease can save each object of his love; Wide as his will extends his boundless grace.

The gods granted us misery, in jealousy over the thought that we two, always together, should enjoy our youth, and then come to the threshold of old age.

Who hearkens to the gods, the gods give ear.

Restrain yourself ... and gloat in silence. I'll have no jubilation here. It is an impious thing to exult over the slain.

Greetings, friends. Do you wish to look as happy as me? Well, you've got the power inside you right now. So use it and send one dollar to Happy Dude, 742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield. Don't delay. Eternal happiness is just a dollar away.

A woman is like beer. They look good, they smell good, and you'd step over your own mother just to get one!