Sappho Quotes

Sappho was an archaic Greek poet from the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung while accompanied by a lyre. Most of Sappho's poetry is now lost, and what is extant has survived only in fragmentary form, except for one complete poem: the "Ode to Aphrodite". As well as lyric poetry, ancient commentators claimed that Sappho wrote elegiac and iambic poetry. Three epigrams attributed to Sappho are extant, but these are actually Hellenistic imitations of Sappho's style.

Little is known of Sappho's life. She was from a wealthy family from Lesbos, though the names of both of her parents are uncertain. Ancient sources say that she had three brothers; the names of two of them are mentioned in the Brothers Poem discovered in 2014. She was exiled to Sicily around 600 BC, and may have continued to work until around 570. Later legends surrounding Sappho's love for the ferryman Phaon and her death are unreliable.

Sappho was a prolific poet, probably composing around 10,000 lines. Her poetry was well-known and greatly admired through much of antiquity, and she was among the canon of nine lyric poets most highly esteemed by scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria. Sappho's poetry is still considered extraordinary and her works continue to influence other writers. Beyond her poetry, she is well known as a symbol of love and desire between women.

✵ 630 BC – 570 BC

Sappho photo

Sappho: 16 quotes39 likes

Famous Sappho Quotes

“The moon has set,
And the Pleiades.
Midnight.
The hour has gone by.
I sleep alone.”

Stanley Lombardo translations, Frag. 72

“Shimmering,
iridescent,
deathless Aphrodite,
child of Zeus, weaver of wiles,
I beg you,
do not crush my spirit with anguish, Lady,
but come to me now…”

Stanley Lombardo translations, Frag. 1

“Like the sweet apple reddening on the topmost branch,
the topmost apple on the tip of the branch,
and the pickers forgot it,
well, no, they didn't forget, they just couldn't reach it.”

Stanley Lombardo translations, Frag. 69

“Truly, I wish I were dead.
She was weeping when she left me,
and said many things to me, and said this:
"How much we have suffered, Sappho.
Truly, I don't want to leave you."”

Stanley Lombardo translations, Frag. 11

“If you are my friend, stand up before me
and scatter the grace that's in your eyes.”

Fragment 138 Voigt
The Willis Barnstone translations, To a Handsome Man

“Some say cavalry and others claim
infantry or a fleet of long oars
is the supreme sight on the black earth.
I say it is

the one you love. And easily proved.
Didn't Helen, who far surpassed all
mortals in beauty, desert the best
of men, her king,

and sail off to Troy and forget
her daughter and her dear parents? Merely
Aphrodite's gaze made her readily bend
and led her far

from her path. These tales remind me now
of Anaktoria who isn't here,
yet I
for one

would rather see her warm supple step
and the sparkle in her face than watch all
the chariots in Lydia and foot soldiers armored
in glittering bronze.”

Fragment 16 Voigt
The Willis Barnstone translations, Supreme Sight on the Black Earth

Sappho Quotes about God

“Look at him, just like a god,
that man sitting across from you,
whoever he is,
listening to your
close, sweet voice,
your irresistible laughter
And O yes,
it sets my heart racing—
one glance at you
and I can't get any words out,
my voice cracks,
a thin flame runs under my skin,
my eyes go blind,
my ears ring,
a cold sweat pours down my body,
I tremble all over,
turn paler than grass.”

Stanley Lombardo translations, Frag. 20

“O dream on your black wings
you come when I am sleeping.

Sweet is the god but still I am
in agony and far from my strength.

for I had hope (none now) to share
something of the blessed gods,

nor was I so foolish
as to scorn pleasant toys.

Now may I have
all these things.”

Fragment 63 Voigt
The Willis Barnstone translations, Dream

“Sweet is the god but still I am
in agony and far from my strength.”

The Willis Barnstone translations, Dream

Sappho Quotes

“Virginity, virginity, when you leave me, where do you go?

I am gone and never come back to you.

I never return.”

http://books.google.com/books?id=fwxgAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Virginity+virginity+when+you+leave+me+where+do+you+go+I+am+gone+and+never+come+back+to+you+I+never+return%22&pg=PA57#v=onepage
Fragment 114 Voigt
The Willis Barnstone translations, Loss

“Eros has shaken my mind,
wind sweeping down the mountain on oaks”

Stanley Lombardo translations, Frag. 26

“A handsome man guards his image a while;
a good man will one day take on beauty.”

Fragment 50 Voigt
The Willis Barnstone translations, Exhortation to Learning

“Of course I am downcast and tremble
with pity for my state
when old age and wrinkles cover me,

when Eros flies about
and I pursue the glorious young.
Pick up your lyre

and sing to us of her who wears
violets on her breasts. Sing especially
of her who is wandering.”

Fragment 58 Voigt
The Willis Barnstone translations, Old Age

“Now may I have
all these things.”

Fragment 63 Voigt
The Willis Barnstone translations, Dream

“O dream on your black wings
you come when I am sleeping.”

The Willis Barnstone translations, Dream

“To have beauty is to have only that,
but to have goodness
is to be beautiful
too.”

http://books.google.com/books?id=btVfAAAAMAAJ&q=%22To+have+beauty+is+to+have+only+that+but+to+have+goodness+is+to+be+beautiful+too%22&pg=PA29#v=onepage
Suzy Q. Groden translations, Beauty

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