Classics ~ Sayings ~ Homer

HOMER

μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληιάδεω Ἀχιλῆος

οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί' Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε' ἔθηκε.

The wrath sing, goddess, of Peleus' son Achilles, the accursed wrath which brought countless woes upon the Achaeans.

Iliad 1, 1

ἄσβεστος γέλως.

Inextinguishable laughter.

Iliad 1, 599

οὐ χρὴ παννύχιον εὕδειν βουληφόρον ἄνδρα.

It does not become a man of counsel to sleep the whole night.

Iliad 2, 24

οὐκ ἀγαθὸν πολυκοιρανίη· εἷς κοίρανος ἔστω,

εἷς βασιλεύς.

No good thing is a multitude of lords; let there be one lord, one king.

Iliad 2, 204

βοὴν ἀγαθός.

Good at the battle cry.

Iliad 2, 408 [et passim]

οἵη περ φύλλων γενεή, τοίη δὲ καὶ ἀνδρῶν.

Just as are the generations of leaves, so are those also of men.

Iliad 6, 146

αἰὲν ἀριστεύειν καὶ ὑπείροχον ἔμμεναι ἄλλων.

Always to excel and to stand out from the rest.

Iliad 6, 208

 ἔσσεται ἦμαρ ὅτ' ἄν ὀλώλῃ Ἴλιος ἱρὴ.

The day will come when sacred Ilium will fall.

Iliad 6, 448

ὣς εἰπὼν ἀλόχοιο φίλης ἐν χερσὶν ἔθηκε

παῖδ' ἑόν· ἡ δ' ἄρα μιν κηώδεϊ δέξατο κόλπῳ

δακρυόεν γελάσασα·

So saying, he placed his son in his dear wife's arms; and she took him to her fragrant bosom, smiling through her tears;

Iliad 6, 482

ἐχθρὸς γάρ μοι κεῖνος ὁμῶς Ἀίδαο πύλῃσιν

ὅς χ' ἕτερον μὲν κεύθῃ ἐνὶ φρεσίν, ἄλλο δὲ εἰπῃ.

Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is he who hides one thing in his mind, and speaks another.

Iliad 9, 312

ἐπὶ ξυροῦ ἀκμῆς.

On a razor's edge [i.e. at the critical moment].

Iliad 10, 173

ἀλλ' ἦτοι μὲν ταῦτα θεῶν ἐν γούνασι.

But truly these things rest on the knees of the gods.

Iliad 17, 514

ὅς τε πολὺ γλυκίων μέλιτος καταλειβομένοιο.

It [sc. revenge] is sweeter far than trickling honey.

Iliad 18, 109

ἀλλ' οὐ Ζεὺς ἄνδρεσσι νοήματα πάντα τελευτᾷ.

But Zeus accomplishes not for men all their purposes.

Iliad 18, 328

κάτθανε καὶ Πάτροκλος, ὅπερ σέο πολλὸν ἀμείνων.

Even Patroclus is dead, who was far better than you.

Iliad 21, 107

τέθναθι· κῆρα δ' ἐγὼ τότε δέξομαι, ὁπότε κεν δὴ
Ζεὺς ἐθέλῃ τελέσαι ἠδ' ἀθάνατοι θεοὶ ἄλλοι.

Lie dead! Then will I accept my fate, when Zeus wishes to accomplish it and the other immortal gods.

Iliad 22, 365

ὣς γὰρ ἐπεκλώσαντο θεοὶ δειλοῖσι βροτοῖσι,
ζώειν ἀχνυμένους· αὐτοὶ δέ τ' ἀκηδέες εἰσί.

For so have the gods ordained for wretched mortals, that they should live in sorrows; but they themselves are carefree.

Iliad 24, 525

ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, Μοῦσα, πολύτροπον, ὃς μάλα πολλὰ

πλάγχθη, ἐπεὶ Τροίης ἱερὸν πτολίεθρον ἔπερσεν·

Tell me, Muse, of the man of many resources, who was driven far astray, after he had sacked the sacred city of Troy;

Odyssey 1, 1

πολλῶν δ' ἀνθρώπων ἴδεν ἄστεα καὶ νόον ἔγνω.

Many were the men whose cities he saw and whose minds he learned.

Odyssey 1, 3

δόσις δ' ὀλίγη τε, φίλη τε.

And a gift, though small, is welcome.

Odyssey 6, 208

οὖτις ἐμοί γ' ὄνομα.

Nobody is my name.

Odyssey 9, 366

ὥρη μὲν πολέων μύθων, ὥρη δὲ καὶ ὕπνου.

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

Odyssey 11, 379

βουλοίμην κ' ἐπάρουρος ἐὼν θητευέμεν ἄλλῳ,

ἀνδρὶ παρ' ἀκλήρῳ, ᾧ μὴ βίοτος πολὺς εἴη,

ἢ πᾶσιν νεκύεσσι καταφθιμένοισιν ἀνάσσειν.

I would much rather choose to live on earth and serve as a labourer in the employ of another, alongside an unpropertied man, one who had not much to live on, than rule over all the dead that have perished.

Odyssey 11, 489

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