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Homer (Writer)

There is nothing nobler or more admirable than when two people who see eye to eye keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends.

— Homer people

A sympathetic friend can be quite as dear as a brother.

Words empty as the wind are best left unsaid.

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

The difficulty is not so great to die for a friend, as to find a friend worth dying for.

— Homer dying

And what he greatly thought, he nobly dared.

— Homer thought

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

The charity that is a trifle to us can be precious to others.

— Homer charity

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

It is not good to have a rule of many.

In youth and beauty, wisdom is but rare!

— Homer wisdom

Wise to resolve, and patient to perform.

Yet, taught by time, my heart has learned to glow for other's good, and melt at other's woe.

Light is the task where many share the toil.

For rarely are sons similar to their fathers: most are worse, and a few are better than their fathers.

— Homer father

Hunger is insolent, and will be fed.

Nothing shall I, while sane, compare with a friend.

— Homer friend

Two urns on Jove's high throne have ever stood, the source of evil one, and one of good; from thence the cup of mortal man he fills, blessings to these, to those distributes ills; to most he mingles both.

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

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

True friends appear less moved than counterfeit.

— Homer friends

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

— Homer spirit

Two friends, two bodies with one soul inspired.

To have a great man for an intimate friend seems pleasant to those who have never tried it; those who have, fear it.

A decent boldness ever meets with friends.

— Homer friends

Oh, look at me! Im making people happy! Im the Magical Man from Happy-Land, in a gumdrop house on Lollipop Lane! Oh, by the way, I was being sarcastic.

— Homer people

All strangers and beggars are from Zeus, and a gift, though small, is precious.

— Homer anger

Book XV, lines 398–401 tr. Alexander Pope.E. V. Rieus translation:Meanwhile let us two, here in the hut, over our food and wine, regale ourselves with the unhappy memories that each can recall. For a man who has been through bitter experiences and travelled far can enjoy even his sufferings after a time.

Even were sleep is concerned, too much is a bad thing.

— Homer sleep

No man or woman born, coward or brave, can shun his destiny.

There will come a dawn or sunset or high noon when a man will take my life in battle too— flinging a spear perhaps or whipping a deadly arrow off his bow.

Διὸς δ’ ἐτελείετο βουλή·The will of Zeus was accomplished. I. 5 tr. Richmond Lattimore.

Οὐδέ τι οἶδε νοῆσαι ἅμα πρόσσω καὶ ὀπίσσω.He lacks the sense to see a day behind, a day ahead. I. 343 tr. Robert Fagles.

ἀλλ ὅ γε σιγῇ δῶρα θεῶν ἔχοι, ὅττι διδοῖεν.Receive in silence what the Father brings. Book XVIII, line 142 tr. Worsley.

— Homer silence

ἀλλ ὅ γε σιγῇ δῶρα θεῶν ἔχοι, ὅττι διδοῖεν.Just take in peace what gifts the gods will send. Book XVIII, line 142 tr. Robert Fagles.

Ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, Μοῦσα, πολύτροπον, ὃς μάλα πολλὰ πλάγχθη, ἐπεὶ Τροίης ἱερὸν πτολίεθρον ἔπερσε· πολλῶν δ’ ἀνθρώπων ἴδεν ἄστεα καὶ νόον ἔγνω, πολλὰ δ’ ὅ γ’ ἐν πόντῳ πάθεν ἄλγεα ὃν κατὰ θυμόν, ἀρνύμενος ἥν τε ψυχὴν καὶ νόστον ἑταίρων.The man for wisdoms various arts renownd, Long exercised in woes, O Muse! resound; Who, when his arms had wrought the destined fall Of sacred Troy, and razed her heaven-built wall, Wandering from clime to clime, observant strayd, Their manners noted, and their states surveyd, On stormy seas unnumberd toils he bore, Safe with his friends to gain his natal shore. Book I, lines 1–5 tr. by Alexander Pope.

— Homer wisdom

Ἐχθρὸν δέ μοί ἐστιν αὖτις ἀριζήλως εἰρημένα μυθολογεύειν.I hate saying the same thing over and over again. XII. 453–454 tr. Samuel Butler.

Man, supposing you and I, escaping this battle, would be able to live on forever, ageless, immortal, so neither would I myself go on fighting in the foremost, nor would I urge you into the fighting where men win glory. But now, seeing that the spirits of death stand close about us in their thousands, no man can turn aside or escape them, let us go on and win glory for ourselves, or yield it to others.XII. 322–328; Sarpedon to Glaukos.

— Homer death

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.

— Homer death

Ἀλλ ὅ γε σιγῇ δῶρα θεῶν ἔχοι, ὅττι διδοῖεν.Just take in peace what gifts the gods will send. XVIII. 142 tr. Robert Fagles.

There is a fullness of all things, even of sleep and love.

Three times I rushed toward her, desperate to hold her, three times she fluttered through my fingers, sifting away like a shadow, dissolving like a dream.

Watch, lest in thy despite Some fair possession from thy home he get: Since, well thou knowest, a womans soul is set His house to prosper whom she chance to wed. Linked to another she discards all debt Due to the children of her former bed, Nor thinks at all of him, her dear-loved husband dead.

A companions words of persuasion are effective.

— Homer words

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.

Man, supposing you and I, escaping this battle, would be able to live on forever, ageless, immortal, so neither would I myself go on fighting in the foremost, nor would I urge you into the fighting where men win glory. But now, seeing that the spirits of death stand close about us in their thousands, no man can turn aside or escape them, let us go on and win glory for ourselves, or yield it to others.XII. 322–328 tr. Lattimore; Sarpedon to Glaukos.

— Homer death

The man for wisdoms various arts renownd, Long exercised in woes, O Muse! resound; Who, when his arms had wrought the destined fall Of sacred Troy, and razed her heaven-built wall, Wandering from clime to clime, observant strayd, Their manners noted, and their states surveyd, On stormy seas unnumberd toils he bore, Safe with his friends to gain his natal shore.

— Homer wisdom

Then looking at him darkly resourceful Odysseus spoke to him: What is this word that broke through the fence of your teeth, Atreides?IV. 350–351.

Δοιαὶ γάρ τε πύλαι ἀμενηνῶν εἰσὶν ὀνείρων· αἱ μὲν γὰρ κεράεσσι τετεύχαται, αἱ δ ἐλέφαντι. οἵ ῥ ἐλεφαίρονται, ἔπε ἀκράαντα φέροντες· οἳ δὲ διὰ ξεστῶν κεράων ἔλθωσι θύραζε, οἵ ῥ ἔτυμα κραίνουσι, βροτῶν ὅτε κέν τις ἴδηται.Two gates there are for our evanescent dreams, one is made of ivory, the other made of horn. Those that pass through the ivory cleanly carved are will-o-the-wisps, their message bears no fruit. The dreams that pass through the gates of polished horn are fraught with truth, for the dreamer who can see them. XIX. 563–568 tr. Robert Fagles; spoken by Penelope.

— Homer truth

Καί τε θεοὶ ξείνοισιν ἐοικότες ἀλλοδαποῖσι, παντοῖοι τελέθοντες, ἐπιστρωφῶσι πόληας, ἀνθρώπων ὕβριν τε καὶ εὐνομίην ἐφορῶντες.And gods in guise of strangers from afar in every form do roam our cities, marking the sin and righteousness of men. XVII. 485–487 tr. G. H. Palmer.

Μοῖραν δ οὔ τινά φημι πεφυγμένον ἔμμεναι ἀνδρῶν, οὐ κακὸν οὐδὲ μὲν ἐσθλόν, ἐπὴν τὰ πρῶτα γένηται.And fate? No one alive has ever escaped it, neither brave man nor coward, I tell you— its born with us the day that we are born. VI. 488–489 tr. Robert Fagles.

Οὐδὲν ἀκιδνότερον γαῖα τρέφει ἀνθρώποιο πάντων, ὅσσα τε γαῖαν ἔπι πνείει τε καὶ ἕρπει.Of all that breathes and crawls across the earth, our mother earth breeds nothing feebler than a man. XVIII. 130–131 tr. Robert Fagles. Cf. Iliad, XVII. 446–447. Samuel Butlers translation:Man is the vainest of all creatures that have their being upon earth.

μηδὲ θεοῖσιν ἶσ ἔθελε φρονέειν, ἐπεὶ οὔ ποτε φῦλον ὁμοῖον ἀθανάτων τε θεῶν χαμαὶ ἐρχομένων τ ἀνθρώπων.Think not to match yourself against gods, for men that walk the earth cannot hold their own with the immortals. V. 440–442 tr. Samuel Butler.

ξεῖν, οὔ μοι θέμις ἔστ, οὐδ εἰ κακίων σέθεν ἔλθοι, ξεῖνον ἀτιμῆσαι· πρὸς γὰρ Διός εἰσιν ἅπαντες ξεῖνοί τε πτωχοί τε. δόσις δ ὀλίγη τε φίλη τε γίνεται ἡμετέρη·O friend, I dare not, though a worse man sought These doors, a stranger use discourteously. All strangers and all poor by Zeus are brought; Sweet is our gift, yet small. Book XIV, lines 56–59 Worsley.

ἀλλ αἰεί τε Διὸς κρείσσων νόος ἠέ περ ἀνδρῶν·But the will of Zeus will always overpower the will of men. XVI. 688 tr. Robert Fagles.

— Homer power

Ἀνδρὶ δὲ κεκμηῶτι μένος μέγα οἶνος ἀέξει.When a Mans exhausted, wine will build his strength. VI. 261 tr. Robert Fagles.

— Homer strength

Ἔνθ ἔνι μὲν φιλότης, ἐν δ ἵμερος, ἐν δ ὀαριστὺς πάρφασις, ἥ τ ἔκλεψε νόον πύκα περ φρονεόντων.There is the heat of Love, the pulsing rush of Longing, the lovers whisper, irresistible—magic to make the sanest man go mad. XIV. 216–217 tr. Robert Fagles. Alexander Popes translation:In this was every art, and every charm, To win the wisest, and the coldest warm: Fond love, the gentle vow, the gay desire, The kind deceit, the still reviving fire, Persuasive speech, and more persuasive sighs, Silence that spoke, and eloquence of eyes.

Ἔσθλ ἀγορεύοντες, κακὰ δὲ φρεσὶ βυσσοδόμευον.Welcome words on their lips, and murder in their hearts. XVII. 66 tr. Robert Fagles.

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