1. Quotes
  2. Authors
  3. Homér

Homér Quotes
page 4

Homer is the legendary author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic poems that are the central works of ancient Greek literature. The Iliad is set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek kingdoms. It focuses on a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles lasting a few weeks during the last year of the war. The Odyssey focuses on the ten-year journey home of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, after the fall of Troy. Many accounts of Homer's life circulated in classical antiquity, the most widespread being that he was a blind bard from Ionia, a region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey. Modern scholars consider these accounts legendary.The Homeric Question – concerning by whom, when, where and under what circumstances the Iliad and Odyssey were composed – continues to be debated. Broadly speaking, modern scholarly opinion falls into two groups. One holds that most of the Iliad and the Odyssey are the works of a single poet of genius. The other considers the Homeric poems to be the result of a process of working and reworking by many contributors, and that "Homer" is best seen as a label for an entire tradition. It is generally accepted that the poems were composed at some point around the late eighth or early seventh century BC.The poems are in Homeric Greek, also known as Epic Greek, a literary language which shows a mixture of features of the Ionic and Aeolic dialects from different centuries; the predominant influence is Eastern Ionic. Most researchers believe that the poems were originally transmitted orally. From antiquity until the present day, the influence of Homeric epic on Western civilization has been great, inspiring many of its most famous works of literature, music, art and film. The Homeric epics were the greatest influence on ancient Greek culture and education; to Plato, Homer was simply the one who "has taught Greece" – ten Hellada pepaideuken. Wikipedia  

Homér photo
Homér: 217   quotes 71   likes

Homér Quotes

“But if you're a man who eats the crops of the earth,
a mortal born for death—here, come closer,
the sooner you will meet your day to die!”

Homér Iliad

VI. 142–143 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

Death

“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.”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

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.
XIX. 563–568 (tr. Robert Fagles); spoken by Penelope.
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

Truth , Dreams

“The blessed gods have no love for crime.
They honor justice, honor the decent acts of men.”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

XIV. 83–84 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

Love , Men , God , Justice

“An irresistible sleep fell deeply on his eyes, the sweetest,
soundest oblivion, still as the sleep of death itself…”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

XIII. 79–80 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

Death , Sleep

“The recklessness of their own ways destroyed them all.”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

I. 7 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

Way

“A deep sleep took hold upon him and eased the burden of his sorrows.”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

XXIII. 343–344 (tr. Samuel Butler).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

Sleep

“When a Man's exhausted, wine will build his strength.”

Homér Iliad

VI. 261 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

Wine

“Friends, we're hardly strangers at meeting danger.”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

XII. 209 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

“The will of Zeus was accomplished.”

Homér Iliad

I. 5 (tr. Richmond Lattimore).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“The majestic king of Troy slipped past the rest
and kneeling down beside Achilles, clasped his knees
and kissed his hands, those terrible, man-killing hands
that had slaughtered Priam's many sons in battle.”

Homér Iliad

XXIV. 477–479 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

Kiss , Past

“I hate saying the same thing over and over again.”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

XII. 453–454 (tr. Samuel Butler).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

Hate

“These things surely lie on the knees of the gods.”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

I. 267. Cf. Iliad XVII. 514.
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

God , Lie

“His cold remains all naked to the sky,
On distant shores unwept, unburied lie.”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

XI. 72–73 (tr. Alexander Pope); of Elpenor.
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

Lie , Distant

“Easily seen is the strength that is given from Zeus to mortals.”

Homér Iliad

XV. 490 (tr. R. Lattimore).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“Then Ulysses rejoiced at finding himself again in his own land, and kissed the bounteous soil.”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

XIII. 353–354 (tr. Samuel Butler).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

Kiss

“With many a weary step, and many a groan,
Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone;
The huge round stone, resulting with a bound,
Thunders impetuous down, and smokes along the ground.”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

XI. 593–598 (tr. William Broome); of Sisyphus.
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

“I’d rather die at sea, with one deep gulp of death,
than die by inches on this desolate island here!”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

XII. 351–352 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

Death , Sea

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

Homér Iliad

IV. 350–351 (tr. R. Lattimore).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“But when he let loose that great voice from his chest
and the words came piling on like a driving winter blizzard —
then no man alive could rival Odysseus! Odysseus…
we no longer gazed in wonder at his looks.”

Homér Iliad

III. 221–224 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

Winter

“Shameless they give, who give what's not their own.”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

XVII. 451–452 (tr. Alexander Pope).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

“All ways of dying are hateful to us poor mortals,
true, but to die of hunger, starve to death—
that's the worst of all.”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

XII. 342–343 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

Death , Hunger , Hate , Way

“I am foremost of all the Trojan warriors to stave the day of bondage from off them; as for you, vultures shall devour you here.”

Homér Iliad

XVI (tr. Samuel Butler); Hector to Patroclus.
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“He bent drooping his head to one side, as a garden poppy
bends beneath the weight of its yield and the rains of springtime;
so his head bent slack to one side beneath the helm's weight.”

Homér Iliad

VIII. 306–308 (tr. R. Lattimore); the death of Gorgythion.
Alexander Pope's translation:
: As full-blown poppies, overcharged with rain,
Decline the head, and drooping kiss the plain, —
So sinks the youth; his beauteous head, depressed
Beneath his helmet, drops upon his breast.
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“But the will of Zeus will always overpower the will of men.”

Homér Iliad

XVI. 688 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

Men

“So they spoke, and both springing down from behind their horses
gripped each other's hands and exchanged the promise of friendship;
but Zeus the son of Kronos stole away the wits of Glaukos
who exchanged with Diomedes the son of Tydeus armour
of gold for bronze, for nine oxen's worth the worth of a hundred.”

Homér Iliad

VI. 232–236 (tr. R. Lattimore).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

Friendship , Spring , Horse

“The chief indignant grins a ghastly smile.”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

XX. 301–302 (tr. Alexander Pope).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

Smile

“By god, I'd rather slave on earth for another man—
some dirt-poor tenant farmer who scrapes to keep alive—
than rule down here over all the breathless dead.”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

XI. 489–492 (tr. Robert Fagles); Achilles' ghost to Odysseus.
Alexander Pope's translation:
: Rather I'd choose laboriously to bear
A weight of woes, and breathe the vital air,
A slave to some poor hind that toils for bread,
Than reign the sceptred monarch of the dead.
With many a weary step, and many a groan,
Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone;
The huge round stone, resulting with a bound,
Thunders impetuous down, and smokes along the ground. P. S. Worsley's translation:
: Rather would I, in the sun's warmth divine,
Serve a poor churl who drags his days in grief,
Than the whole lordship of the dead were mine.
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

God , Dead

“The woodcutter is far better for skill than he is for brute strength.
It is by skill that the sea captain holds his rapid ship
on its course, though torn by winds, over the wine-blue water.
By skill charioteer outpasses charioteer.”

Homér Iliad

XXIII. 315–318 (tr. R. Lattimore).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

Water , Wine , Sea

“The Fates have given mortals hearts that can endure.”

Homér Iliad

XXIV. 49 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

Fate , Heart

“Worthless is as worthless does.”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

VIII. 351 (tr. Martin Hammond).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

“Bad herdsmen waste the flocks which thou hast left behind.”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

XVII. 246 (tr. Worsley).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

“For a man will not have strength to fight his way forward all day
long until the sun goes down if he is starved for food.”

Homér Iliad

XIX. 162–163 (tr. R. Lattimore).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

Food , Way , Sun , Fight

“Not that I'd grudge a tear
for any man gone down to meet his fate.
What other tribute can we pay to wretched men
than to cut a lock, let tears roll down our cheeks?”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

IV. 195–198 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

Men , Fate , Tear

“Servants, when their lords no longer sway,
Their minds no more to righteous courses bend.
Half that man's virtue doth Zeus take away,
Whom he surrenders to the servile day.”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

XVII. 320–323 (tr. Worsley).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

“Lordship for many is no good thing. Let there be one ruler,
one king.”

Homér Iliad

II. 204–205 (tr. R. Lattimore).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“Grey-eyed Athene sent them a favourable gale, a fresh West Wind, singing over the wine-dark sea.”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

II. 420–421 (tr. S. H. Butcher and Andrew Lang).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

Wine , Singing , Sea

“From whose lips the streams of words ran sweeter than honey.”

Homér Iliad

I. 249 (tr. Richmond Lattimore); of Nestor.
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“I say further, and lay my saying to your heart, you too shall live but for a little season; death and the day of your doom are close upon you, and they will lay you low by the hand of Achilles son of Aiakos.”

Homér Iliad

XVI (tr. S. Butler); Patroclus to Hector.
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

Death , Heart , Season

“Cursed is the man, and void of law and right,
Unworthy property, unworthy light,
Unfit for public rule, or private care,
That wretch, that monster, that delights in war:
Whose lust is murder, and whose horrid joy
To tear his country, and his kind destroy!”

Homér Iliad

IX. 63–64 (tr. Alexander Pope).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

War , Law , Tear , Light

“So here the twins were laid low at Aeneas' hands,
down they crashed like lofty pine trees axed.”

Homér Iliad

V. 559–560 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

Tree

“He spoke, the son of Kronos, and nodded his head with the dark brows,
and the immortally anointed hair of the great god
swept from his divine head, and all Olympos was shaken.”

Homér Iliad

I. 528–530 (tr. Richmond Lattimore).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

God

“A glorious death is his
Who for his country falls.”

Homér Iliad

XV. 496–497 (tr. Lord Derby); spoken by Hector.
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

Death , Country

“The tongue of man is a twisty thing, there are plenty of words there
of every kind, the range of words is wide, and their variance.”

Homér Iliad

XX. 248–249 (tr. R. Lattimore).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“Dreams come from Zeus.”

Homér Iliad

I. 63.
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

Dreams

“All men need the gods…”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

III. 48 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

Men , God

“The gods know all things.”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

IV. 468.
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

God