Quotes by Homer from his two epics, Iliad and the Odyssey, covering wide range of themes such as life, good, evil, marriage, relationship, hunger and other things.
Homer was an author, intellectual and philosopher in ancient Greece, who is credited with writing two of the greatest epics in the history of literature. There is no consensus as to the ancient period in which he lived; some estimates place it at 850 BCE while others place it at around 1102 BCE. There have been plenty of ancient Greek authors who are considered to be among the greatest in the world and Homer towers above all of them for being the original master. One of Greece’s greatest thinkers Plato called him ‘the first teacher’ and went on to state that Homer was the one who ‘taught Greece’. Homer penned the ‘Iliad’ and the ‘Odyssey’; the two great epics of ancient Greece and has firmly cemented his place among the greatest poets in the world. Homer was also an outstanding orator and it is estimated that a large bulk of his work was in the form of speeches. Most of those speeches provided the intellectuals of a later age with the template of making a persuasive argument as regards to the topic of their choice. As such, it is not a sur-prise that Homer has left behind a great many quotes that would be relevant forever and here are some of the select ones.
There is nothing more admirable than when two people who see eye to eye keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends.
Sing, O muse, of the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans.
Homer
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.
Each man delights in the work that suits him best.
Homer
Men are so quick to blame the gods: they say
that we devise their misery. But they
themselves- in their depravity- design
grief greater than the griefs that fate assigns.
No one can hurry me down to Hades before my time, but if a man's hour is come, be he brave or be he coward, there is no escape for him when he has once been born.
Without a sign, his sword the brave man draws, and asks no omen, but his country's cause.
Homer
Beauty! Terrible Beauty!
A deathless Goddess-- so she strikes our eyes!
Homer
Choose well.
Homer
Too many kings can ruin an army
Homer
Aries in his many fits knows no favorites.
Homer
…but there they lay, sprawled across the field, craved far more by the vultures than by wives.
Homer
Even his griefs are a joy long after to one that remembers all that he wrought and endured.
Homer
Why have you come to me here, dear heart, with all these instructions? I promise you I will do everything just as you ask. But come closer. Let us give in to grief, however briefly, in each other's arms.
Any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.
By hook or by crook this peril too shall be something that we remember
Homer
Come then, put away your sword in its sheath, and let us two go up into my bed so that, lying together in the bed of love, we may then have faith and trust in each other.
Say not a word in death's favor; I would rather be a paid servant in a poor man's house and be above ground than king of kings among the dead." -Achilles
Ah my friend, if you and I could escape this fray and live forever, never a trace of age, immortal, I would never fight on the front lines again or command you to the field where men win fame.
Reproach is infinite, and knows no end
So voluble a weapon is the tongue;
Wounded, we wound; and neither side can fail
For every man has equal strength to rail.
Homer
The sort of words a man says is the sort he hears in return.
Homer
All men owe honor to the poets - honor and awe; for they are dearest to the Muse who puts upon their lips the ways of life.
The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, as it pleases him, for he can do all things.
Homer
One omen is best; Defending the fatherland
Homer
Always be the best, my boy, the bravest, and hold your head up high above all the others. Never disgrace the generation of your fathers. They were the bravest champions...
And his good wife will tear her cheeks in grief, his sons are orphans and he, soaking the soil red with his own blood, he rots away himself—more birds than women flocking round his body!
