Safona cytaty

„Nawet delikatna dziewczyna kwiaty ścina.”

„Złoto potrafi zabałamucić nawet uczciwego człowieka.”

„Kiedy gniew zawładnie tobą, trzymaj język za zębami.”

„Ironia jest potwierdzeniem pustki.”

„Uroda cieszy tylko oczy, dobroć jest wartością trwałą.”

„Dobrych ludzi nikt nie zapomina.”

„Nie czas modlitwie po przegranej bitwie.”

„Jaka wina, taka kara.”

„Niedola ludzi jednoczy.”

„Nie wszystko można w życiu zdobyć. Trzeba raczej wybierać.”

„Dla krótkowidza i strach bywa drogowskazem.”

„Nawet groźnym bogom nieraz łzawią oczy.”

„Bogowie wiedzą, że śmierć jest nieszczęściem. Inaczej chętnie umieraliby sami.”

„Wiem, że moje ręce nie dotkną nieba.”

„Przyjaźń jest subtelną rozkoszą szlachetnych dusz.”

„Złoto nie śniedzieje.”

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

“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.”

“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."”

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

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

I am gone and never come back to you.

I never return.”

“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.”

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

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

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Now may I have
all these things.”

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

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

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