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Homer Quotes
Greek epic poet
| “ | You ought not to practice childish ways, since you are no longer that age.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | Wide-sounding Zeus takes away half a man's worth on the day when slavery comes upon him.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | We are quick to flare up, we races of men on the earth.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | There is nothing more dread and more shameless than a woman who plans such deeds in her heart as the foul deed which she plotted when she contrived her husband's murder.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | The wine urges me on, the bewitching wine, which sets even a wise man to singing and to laughing gently and rouses him up to dance and brings forth words which were better unspoken.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | The minds of the everlasting gods are not changed suddenly.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | The gods, likening themselves to all kinds of strangers, go in various disguises from city to city, observing the wrongdoing and the righteousness of men.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | So it is that the gods do not give all men gifts of grace - neither good looks nor intelligence nor eloquence.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | Nothing feebler than a man does the earth raise up, of all the things which breathe and move on the earth, for he believes that he will never suffer evil in the future, as long as the gods give him success and he flourishes in his strength; but when the blessed gods bring sorrows too to pass, even these he bears, against his will, with steadfast spirit, for the thoughts of earthly men are like the day which the father of gods and men brings upon them.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | May the gods grant you all things which your heart desires, and may they give you a husband and a home and gracious concord, for there is nothing greater and better than this -when a husband and wife keep a household in oneness of mind, a great woe to their enemies and joy to their friends, and win high renown.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | Look now how mortals are blaming the gods, for they say that evils come from us, but in fact they themselves have woes beyond their share because of their own follies.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | It is tedious to tell again tales already plainly told.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | It is equally wrong to speed a guest who does not want to go, and to keep one back who is eager. You ought to make welcome the present guest, and send forth the one who wishes to go.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | I should rather labor as another's serf, in the home of a man without fortune, one whose livelihood was meager, than rule over all the departed dead.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | For rarely are sons similar to their fathers: most are worse, and a few are better than their fathers.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | Evil deeds do not prosper; the slow man catches up with the swift.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | Even his griefs are a joy long after to one that remembers all that he wrought and endured.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | Dreams surely are difficult, confusing, and not everything in them is brought to pass for mankind. For fleeting dreams have two gates: one is fashioned of horn and one of ivory. Those which pass through the one of sawn ivory are deceptive, bringing tidings which come to nought, but those which issue from the one of polished horn bring true results when a mortal sees them.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | By their own follies they perished, the fools.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | 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.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | All strangers and beggars are from Zeus, and a gift, though small, is precious.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | All men have need of the gods.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | A young man is embarrassed to question an older one.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | A small rock holds back a great wave.
The Odyssey | ” |
| “ | Zeus does not bring all men's plans to fulfillment.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | Young men's minds are always changeable, but when an old man is concerned in a matter, he looks both before and after.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | 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.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | Whoever obeys the gods, to him they particularly listen.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | Thus have the gods spun the thread for wretched mortals: that they live in grief while they themselves are without cares; for two jars stand on the floor of Zeus of the gifts which he gives, one of evils and another of blessings.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | There is a strength in the union even of very sorry men.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | There is a fullness of all things, even of sleep and love.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | The single best augury is to fight for one's country.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | The outcome of the war is in our hands; the outcome of words is in the council.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | The glorious gifts of the gods are not to be cast aside.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | The fates have given mankind a patient soul.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | Once harm has been done, even a fool understands it.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | Of men who have a sense of honor, more come through alive than are slain, but from those who flee comes neither glory nor any help.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | Miserable mortals who, like leaves, at one moment flame with life, eating the produce of the land, and at another moment weakly perish.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | It was built against the will of the immortal gods, and so it did not last for long.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | It is not unseemly for a man to die fighting in defense of his country.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | It is not possible to fight beyond your strength, even if you strive.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | It is entirely seemly for a young man killed in battle to lie mangled by the bronze spear. In his death all things appear fair. But when dogs shame the gray head and gray chin and nakedness of an old man killed, it is the most piteous thing that happens among wretched mortals.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | If you are very valiant, it is a god, I think, who gave you this gift.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | I too shall lie in the dust when I am dead, but now let me win noble renown.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | He lives not long who battles with the immortals, nor do his children prattle about his knees when he has come back from battle and the dread fray.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | He knew the things that were and the things that would be and the things that had been before.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | Even when someone battles hard, there is an equal portion for one who lingers behind, and in the same honor are held both the coward and the brave man; the idle man and he who has done much meet death alike.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | A multitude of rulers is not a good thing. Let there be one ruler, one king.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | A generation of men is like a generation of leaves; the wind scatters some leaves upon the ground, while others the burgeoning wood brings forth - and the season of spring comes on. So of men one generation springs forth and another ceases.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | A councilor ought not to sleep the whole night through, a man to whom the populace is entrusted, and who has many responsibilities.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | A companion's words of persuasion are effective.
The Iliad | ” |
| “ | It is equally offensive to speed a guest who would like to stay and to detain one who is anxious to leave. | ” |
| “ | I detest that man who hides one thing in the depths of his heart, and speaks for another. | ” |
| “ | Do thou restrain the haughty spirit in thy breast, for better far is gentle courtesy. | ” |
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