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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

He in the turning dust lay
mightily in his might, his horsemanship all forgotten.

Iliad (-750)

And some day let them say of him:
'He is better by far than his father.'

Iliad (-750)

She who is only a little thing at the first, but thereafter
grows until she strides on the earth with her head striking heaven.

Iliad (-750)

For dear to gods and men is sacred song.
Self-taught I sing; by Heaven and Heaven alone,
The genuine seeds of poesy are sown.

Then looking at him darkly resourceful Odysseus spoke to him:
"What is this word that broke through the fence of your teeth, Atreides?"

Iliad (-750)

This, this is misery! the last, the worst,
That man can feel.

On valour's side the odds of combat lie,
The brave live glorious, or lamented die;
The wretch who trembles in the field of fame,
Meets death, and worse than death, eternal shame.

Iliad (-750)

On they moved, by Neptune led
With firm hand grasping his long-bladed sword
Keen as Jove's bolt.

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

O woman, woman, when to ill thy mind
Is bent, all hell contains no fouler fiend.

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

Our business in the field of fight
Is not to question, but to prove our might.

There with commutual zeal we both had strove
In acts of dear benevolence and love;
Brothers in peace, not rivals in command.

We pride ourselves on being far better men than our fathers.

I too
Will cast the spear and leave the rest to Jove.

For never, never, wicked man was wise.

In death a hero, as in life a friend!

But strong of limb
And swift of foot misfortune is, and, far
Outstripping all, comes first to every land,
And there wreaks evil on mankind, which prayers
Do afterwards redress.

If I hold out here and I lay siege to Troy,
my journey home is gone, but my glory never dies.

Iliad (-750)

A mass enormous! which, in modern days
No two of earth's degenerate sons could raise.

Attribution

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