“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.”
XV. 563–564 (tr. Alexander Pope).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)
Original
Αἰδομένων δ' ἀνδρῶν πλέονες σόοι ἠὲ πέφανται· φευγόντων δ' οὔτ' ἂρ κλέος ὄρνυται οὔτέ τις ἀλκή.
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Do you have more details about the quote "On valour's side the odds of combat lie,
The brave live glorious, or lamented die;
The wretch who trembles in the fie…" by Homér?
Homér 217
Ancient Greek epic poet, author of the Iliad and the OdysseyRelated quotes
“We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.”
Charles Bukowski
(1920–1994) American writer
Uesugi Kenshin
(1530–1578) Japanese daimyo
Quoted in Suzuki, Daisetz Teitaro; Zen Buddhism and Its Influence on Japanese Culture (1970); p. 188
Cited in Wisdom from Early Japan, The Samurai Archives, 2006-11-07 http://www.samurai-archives.com/wisdom.html,
Cited in [Storry, Richard, October 11, 1979, Cult of the Sword, The New York Review of Books, 26, 15, ISSN 0028-7504, http://www.nybooks.com/articles/article-preview?article_id=7675, 2006-11-07] (Review of several books on the samurai of Japan.)
Alternative: "Those who cling to life die, and those who defy death live."
“That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.”
Variant: That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.
Source: The Nameless City
“The brave can death despise,
And dies contented, if with fame he dies.”
Un magnanimo cor morte non prezza,
Presta o tarda che sia, pur che ben muora.
Canto XVII, stanza 15 (tr. W. S. Rose)
Orlando Furioso (1532)
“For he who lives more lives than one
More deaths than one must die.”
Pt. III, st. 22
The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898)
Source: The Ballad of Reading Gaol and Other Poems
Charles Bukowski
(1920–1994) American writer
"The Meaning of Life: The Big Picture", Life Magazine (December 1988)
Interviews
Context: For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stonewritten. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command or faith a dictum. I am my own God. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.
