“Don't try to sell me on death, Odysseus.
I'd rather be a hired hand back up on earth,
Slaving away for some poor dirt farmer,
Than lord it over all these withered dead.”

Book XI, lines 510–513; spoken by the ghost of Achilles.
Translations, Odyssey (2000)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Don't try to sell me on death, Odysseus. I'd rather be a hired hand back up on earth, Slaving away for some poor dirt…" by Stanley Lombardo?
Stanley Lombardo photo
Stanley Lombardo 17
Philosopher, Classicist 1943

Related quotes

Homér photo

“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.”

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)

Brigham Young photo
Eminem photo

“I don't rap for dead presidents, I'd rather see the president dead”

Eminem (1972) American rapper and actor

"We As Americans" (2004)
2000s

Hugh Thompson, Jr. photo

“I'd received death threats over the phone. Dead animals on your porch, mutilated animals on your porch some mornings when you get up. So I was not a 'good guy.”

Hugh Thompson, Jr. (1943–2006) United States helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War

In a 2004 interview with 60 minutes. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/07/national/07thompson.html
Attributed

Louisa May Alcott photo
Peter Gabriel photo
Jimmy Buffett photo

“I'm growing older but not up.
My metabolic rate is pleasantly stuck.
Let those winds of time blow over my head.
I'd rather die while I'm living than live while I'm dead.”

Jimmy Buffett (1946) American singer–songwriter and businessman

Growing Older But Not Up
Song lyrics, Coconut Telegraph (1981)

Klaus Kinski photo
Jimmy Buffett photo

“I'd rather die while I'm living than live while I'm dead.”

Jimmy Buffett (1946) American singer–songwriter and businessman
Keith Richards photo

Related topics