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"Prayer to my lady of Paphos" [Fr. 1 Voigt]

— Mary Barnard Sappho: A New Translation (1958)

Dapple-throned Aphrodite,
eternal daughter of God,
snare-knitter!

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Prayer

More quotes by Mary Barnard

Like a hyacinth in
the mountains, trampled
by shepherds until
only a purple stain
remains on the ground.

Sappho: A New Translation (1958)

Hesperus, you herd
homeward whatever
Dawn’s light dispersed
You herd sheep—herd
goats—herd children
home to their mothers.

Sappho: A New Translation (1958)

I wanted to hear
Sappho’s laughter
and the speech of
her stringed shell.
What I heard was
whiskered mumble-
ment of grammarians:
Greek pterodactyls
and Victorian dodos.

Some say a cavalry corps,
some infantry, some, again,
will maintain that the swift oars
of our fleet are the finest
sight on dark earth; but I say
that whatever one loves, is.

Sappho: A New Translation (1958)

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When the mind is not dissipated upon extraneous things, nor diffused over the world about us through the senses, it withdraws within itself, and of its own accord ascends to the contemplation of God.

Basil of Caesarea

Oh dear Pan and all the other Gods of this place, grant that I may be beautiful inside.

Plato

To feel the supreme and moving beauty of the spectacle to which Nature invites her ephemeral guests! … that is what I call prayer.

Claude Debussy Claude Debussy: His Life and Works (1933)

"O God, thy sea is so great and my boat is so small."

John F. Kennedy

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Mary Barnard (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.