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Homer Quotes

Homer (Ancient Greek: Ὅμηρος) is best known as the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. He was believed by the ancient Greeks to have been the first and greatest of the epic poets.

Also known as: Homer's Odyssey, Homeric

Random Homer quote

287 quotes

Anger, which, far sweeter than trickling drops of honey, rises in the bosom of a man like smoke.

And taste
The melancholy joys of evils pass'd,
For he who much has suffer'd, much will know.

Three porkers for the feast, all brawny-chined,
He brought; the choicest of the tusky-kind.

Thou know'st the o'er-eager vehemence of youth,
How quick in temper, and in judgement weak.

And endless are the modes of speech, and far
Extends from side to side the field of words.

Their tresses, like the crocus’ flamy hue,
In waving radiance round their shoulders flew.

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

Some wield the sounding axe; the dodder'd oaks
Divide, obedient to the forceful strokes.

Dispel this cloud, the light of heaven restore;
Give me to see, and Ajax asks no more.

But curb thou the high spirit in thy breast,
For gentle ways are best, and keep aloof
From sharp contentions.

Now deep in ocean sunk the lamp of light,
And drew behind the cloudy vale of night.

The leader, mingling with the vulgar host,
Is with the common mass of matter lost!

The life, which others pay, let us bestow,
And give to fame what we to nature owe.

A green old age, unconscious of decays,
That proves the hero born in better days.

In every sorrowing soul I pour'd delight,
And poverty stood smiling in my sight.

O thou, whose certain eye foresees
The fix'd event of fate's remote decrees.

Then let him know that hatred without end
Or intermission is between us two.

Behold, on wrong
Swift vengeance waits; and art subdues the strong.

Our fruitless labours mourn,
And only rich in barren fame return.

Toil is the lot of all, and bitter woe
The fate of many.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Homer (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.