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

—  Homér , The Odyssey (Cowper)

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

Original

Αὐτῶν γὰρ σφετέρῃσιν ἀτασθαλίῃσιν ὄλοντο.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update May 24, 2020. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The recklessness of their own ways destroyed them all." by Homér?
Homér photo
Homér 217
Ancient Greek epic poet, author of the Iliad and the Odyssey

Related quotes

Homér photo

“Ah how shameless – the way these mortals blame the gods. From us alone they say come all their miseries yes but they themselves with their own reckless ways compound their pains beyond their proper share.”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

Source: The Odyssey

Rabindranath Tagore photo

“There are two religions in earth, which have distinct enmity against all other religions. These two are Christianity and Islam. They are not just satisfied with observing their own religions, but are determined to destroy all other religions. That’s why the only way to make peace with them is to embrace their religions.”

Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali polymath

Original works of Rabindranath Vol. 24 page 375, Vishwa Bharti; 1982.

John Ashbery photo

“Most reckless things are beautiful in some way, and recklessness is what makes experimental art beautiful, just as religions are beautiful because of the strong possibilities that they are founded on nothing.”

John Ashbery (1927–2017) poet from the United States
George Orwell photo

“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”

George Orwell (1903–1950) English author and journalist

This is often attributed to George Orwell book 1984. We cannot find it inside. Perharps this is post-mortem paraphrase of his quote "Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past".

“They will try to make us believe that the only way to destroy them is to become like them.”

David Gemmell book The Swords of Night and Day

Source: Drenai series, The Swords of Night and Day, Ch. 21
Context: Winning is not everything, Stavut. Men like to think it is. Sometimes it is more important to stand against evil than to worry about beating it... Evil will always have the worst weapons. Evil will gather the greatest armies. They will burn, and plunder, and kill. But that's not the worst of it. They will try to make us believe that the only way to destroy them is to become like them. That is the true vileness of evil. It is contagious.

“Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story
of that man skilled in all ways of contending,
the wanderer, harried for years on end,
after he plundered the stronghold
on the proud height of Troy.
He saw the townlands
and learned the minds of many distant men,
and weathered many bitter nights and days
in his deep heart at sea, while he fought only
to save his life, to bring his shipmates home.
But not by will nor valor could he save them,
for their own recklessness destroyed them all—
children and fools, they killed and feasted on
the cattle of Lord Hêlios, the Sun,
and he who moves all day through the heaven
took from their eyes the dawn of their return.”

Robert Fitzgerald (1910–1985) American poet, critic and translator

opening lines
The Odyssey (1961)

William Shakespeare photo

“Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven;
Whilst, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads
And recks not his own read.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

George Plimpton photo

“As happens with people who love a thing too much, it destroys them.
Oscar Wilde said, 'You destroy the thing that you love.' It's the other way around. What you love destroys you.”

George Plimpton (1927–2003) journalist, writer, editor, actor
Ray Bradbury photo

“These are all novels, all about people that never existed, the people that read them it makes them unhappy with their own lives. Makes them want to live in other ways they can never really be.”

Ray Bradbury book Fahrenheit 451

Source: Fahrenheit 451

Susanna Clarke photo

“Time and I have quarrelled. All hours are midnight now. I had a clock and a watch, but I destroyed them both. I could not bear the way they mocked me.”

Susanna Clarke book Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Source: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Related topics