Homer

“The day that robs a child of his parents severs him from his own kind; his head is bowed, his cheeks are wet with tears, and he will go about destitute among the friends of his father, plucking one by the cloak and another by the shirt. Some one or other of these may so far pity him as to hold the cup for a moment towards him and let him moisten his lips, but he must not drink enough to wet the roof of his mouth; then one whose parents are alive will drive him from the table with blows and angry words.”

“Fear, O Achilles, the wrath of heaven; think on your own father and have compassion upon me, who am the more pitiable”

“The charity that is a trifle to us can be precious to others.”

“Her gray eyes clear, the goddess Athena answered, "Down from the skies I come to check your rage if only you will yield”

“By hook or by crook this peril too shall be something that we remember”

“Dreams surely are difficult, confusing, and not everything in them is brought to pass for mankind. For fleeting dreams have two gates: one is fashioned of horn and one of ivory. Those which pass through the one of sawn ivory are deceptive, bringing tidings which come to nought, but those which issue from the one of polished horn bring true results when a mortal sees them.”

“For they imagined as they wished--that it was a wild shot,/ an unintended killing--fools, not to comprehend/ they were already in the grip of death./ But glaring under his brows Odysseus answered:'You yellow dogs, you thought I'd never make it/ home from the land of Troy. You took my house to plunder,/ twisted my maids to serve your beds. You dared/ bid for my wife while I was still alive./ Contempt was all you had for the gods who rule wide heaven,/ contempt for what men say of you hereafter./ Your last hour has come. You die in blood.”

“...if fifty bands of men surrounded us/ and every sword sang for your blood,/ you could make off still with their cows and sheep.”

“he took a cable which had been service on a blue-bowed ship, made one end fast to a high column in the portico, and threw the other over the round-house, high up, so that their feet would not touch the ground. As when long-winged thrushes or doves get entangled in a snare . . . so the women's heads were held fast in a row, with nooses round their necks, to bring them to the most pitiable end. For a little while their feet twitched, but not for very long.”

“Rage - Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles,murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls,great fighters' souls, but made their bodies carrion,feasts for the dogs and birds,and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end.Begin, Muse, when the two first broke and clashed,Agamemnon lord of men and brilliant Achilles.”

“Young men's minds are always changeable, but when an old man is concerned in a matter, he looks both before and after.”

“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.”

“But when Odysseus rose, that man of many devices, fixing his down-cast eyes on the ground he stood: nor his scepter swayed, either this way or that like a practiced speaker, but held it motionless, even as a man unskilled in the arts of persuasion. One would declare him mute with passion or wanting in judgment. But when he spoke, when his powerful voice went forth from his bosom, issuing words which fell like flakes of snow in winter, surely no mortal man might hope to compete with Odysseus. Lost in wonder we sat, but not, as before, at his manner.”

“Tell me, O muse, of travellers far and wide”

“Wine can of their wits the wise beguile, Make the sage frolic, and the serious smile”

“Im Frieden begraben die Söhne ihre Väter, im Krieg begraben Väter ihre Söhne.”

“Immortals are never alien to one another.”

“Sing, O muse, of the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans.”

“Come, Friend, you too must die. Why moan about it so?Even Patroclus died, a far, far better man than you.And look, you see how handsome and powerful I am?The son of a great man, the mother who gave me life--A deathless goddess. But even for me, I tell you,Death and the strong force of fate are waiting.There will come a dawn or sunset or high noonWhen a man will take my life in battle too--flinging a spear perhapsOr whipping a deadly arrow off his bow.”

“Why cover the same ground again? ... It goes against my grain to repeat a tale told once, and told so clearly.”

“Each man delights in the work that suits him best.”

“I didn't lie! I just created fiction with my mouth!”

“So, the gods don't hand out all their gifts at once, not build and brains and flowing speech to all. One man may fail to impress us with his looks but a god can crown his words with beauty, charm, and men look on with delight when he speaks out. Never faltering, filled with winning self-control, he shines forth at assembly grounds and people gaze at him like a god when he walks through the streets. Another man may look like a deathless one on high but there's not a bit of grace to crown his words. Just like you, my fine, handsome friend.”

“Even his griefs are a joy long after to one that remembers all that he wrought and endured.”

“A small rock holds back a great wave.”

“Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.”

“Here, therefore, huge and mighty warrior though you be, here shall you die.”

“Vain is your boast in that you have scratched the sole of my foot... A worthless coward can inflict but a light wound. When I wound a man, though I but graze his skin, it is another matter, for my weapon will lay him low. His wife will tear her cheeks out for grief and his children will be fatherless: there he will rot, reddening the earth with his blood, and vultures, not women, will gather round him.”

“Think not to match yourself against the gods, for men that walk the earth cannot hold their own with the immortals.”

“Even a fool learns something once it hits him.”

“Getting out of jury duty is easy. The trick is to say you're prejudiced against all races. ”

“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.”

“There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.”

“The journey is the thing.”

“...like that star of the waning summer who beyond all stars rises bathed in the ocean stream to glitter in brilliance.”

“Do not beg me by knees or by parents you dog! I only wish I were savagely wrathful enough to hack up your corpse and eat it raw”

“I have no interest at all in food and drink, but only in slaughter and blood and the agonized groans of mangled men”

“For a friend with an understanding heart is worth no less than a brother”

“There will be killing till the score is paid.”

“youth is quick in feeling but weak in judgement.”

“It behooves a father to be blameless if he expects his child to be.”

“All things are in the hand of heaven, and Folly, eldest of Jove's daughters, shuts men's eyes to their destruction. She walks delicately, not on the solid earth, but hovers over the heads of men to make them stumble or to ensnare them.”

“Sleep, delicious and profound, the very counterfeit of death”

“A man who has been through bitter experiences and travelled far enjoys even his sufferings after a time”

“Aries in his many fits knows no favorites.”

“Of all creatures that breathe and move upon the earth, nothing is bred that is weaker than man.”

“How prone to doubt, how cautious are the wise!”