The Odyssey Quotes

"when it is their own transgressions which bring them suffering that was not their destiny"

"any decent man would be disgusted at the sight of such disgraceful behaviour"

"I can announce my demand that you quit my palace."

"we will not return to our own estates"

"Telemachus, you must forget your diffidence"

"your lineage has left a stamp on your looks"
"inferior parents could not breed such men as you"

"for a son, when his father has gone, has many difficulties to face at home"

"a grim ending there'll be to this sea-trip of his in search of his father"

"was it not your idea that Odysseus should return and take revenge on these men?"

"disconsolate on the shore"

"life in its sweetness was ebbing away in the tears he shed for his lost home"

"you long to see that wife of yours, who is never out of your thoughts"

"I mean for him to have a bellyful of trouble yet"

"now it seems that I was predestined to an ignoble death"

"I'm afraid this is one of the immortals setting a snare to catch me"

"it is of Artemis...that your beauty, grace and stature most remind me"

"he advanced on them like a mountain lion"

"I wish I could have a man like him for my husband"

"come, girls, give the stranger something to eat and drink"

"they are supercilious people"

"the people here have little affection for strangers and do not welcome visitors with open arms"

"she settles even men's disputes"

"he was ashamed to be seen weeping by the Phaecians"
"Odysseus once more hid his face and sobbed"

"I am not bad at any kind of manly sport"

"Hephaestus may be lame, but he has won the day by his cunning"

"I am Odysseus, Laertes' son. The whole world talks of my stratagems, and my fame has reached the heavens"

"so true it is that a man's fatherland and his parents are what he holds sweetest"

"no one, as far as I could help it, should go short of his proper share"

"I said we must escape with all possible speed. But my fools of men refused."

"had hopes of some friendly gifts from my host"

"we Cyclopes care nothing for Zeus...since we are much stronger than they are"

"twisted it in his eye till the blood boiled up round the burning wood"

"why do you want to provoke the savage in such an obstinate way?"

"an untrustworthy crew and a fatal sleep were my downfall"

"it is not right fore me to entertain and equip a man detested by the blessed gods"

"they carried them off like fishes on a spear to make their loathsome meal"

"I shall go. I have absolutely no choice."

"she prepared a brew in a golden bowl and with evil in her heart dropped in the drug"

"it was this man's reckless folly that cost them their lives"

"it's time you thought of Ithaca"

"my lady Circe has made everything clear"

"I beg you, master, to remember me and not to sail away and forsake me utterly nor leave me there unburied"

"you will die peacefully of old age, surrounded by prosperous people"

"tell me of my father and the son I left behind"

"three times, like a shadow or a dream, she slipped through my hands"

"in the depth of her villainy she has branded with infamy...the whole of her sex"

"do not you make light of death"
"I would rather work the soil as a serf"

"with their high clear song the Sirens bewitch him, as they sit there in a meadow piled high with the mouldering skeletons of men"

"I did not mention the inescapable horror of Scylla, fearing that in their panic my men may stop rowing"

"as for the culprits, I will soon strike their ship with a blinding bolt"
"there was no homecoming for them: the gods saw to that"

"I swung myself up to the great fig-tree, on which I got a tight grip and clung like a bat"

"to teach them once and for all to give up this habit of escorting travellers"

"that is why I can't desert you in your misfortunes: you are so persuasive, so quick-witted, so self-possessed"

"I wasn't prepared to oppose my uncle Poseidon"

"I can already see them staining your broad floors with their blood and brains"

"do have some sucking pig, which is all we servants can offer you"
"tonight you shan't go without clothing or anything else"

"I shall never find so kind a master again wherever I go"

"an eagle, carrying in it talons a great white goose"
"a hawk, Apollo's winged herald, holding a dove in its talons"

"there's nothing like love to lead a woman astray"

"like a fond father welcoming his son back"

"Odysseus his father rose to give him a seat"

"he kissed his son and tears ran down his cheeks"
""Telemachus flung his arms round his noble father's cheeks and burst into tears"

"Penelope found his conversation especially agreeable, because he was a man of principle"

"Antinous, you're an arrogant and evil schemer"

"these encouraging words were on his lips, but death for Telemachus was in his heart"

"looking like Artemis or golden Aphrodite"

"he burst into a torrent of vulgar abuse" "nauseating beggar"

"Zeus takes half the good out of a man the day he becomes a slave"

"so learn to distinguish the good from the bad, though this did not mean that in the end she was to save a single one from destruction"

"picking up a stool he threw it and struck Odysseus"

"Antinous, you did wrong to strike the wretched vagrant"

"old as I am I'll dye your lips and breast with your own blood"

"you're a worthless fellow, so don't try to lord it over strangers and beggars"

"the Suitors went weak at the knees"
"their hearts melted with desire"

"she was extorting gifts from her suitors and bewitching them with persuasive words"

"still here to plague us all night long, prowling round the house and ogling the women"

"your fame has reached broad heaven itself"

"Odysseus' right hand sought out and gripped the old woman's throat"

"some old trusty woman whose heart has suffered as much as mine"

"I am going to make the Suitors compete in the same test of skill"

"I who have never ceased to watch over you in all your adventures"

"I can tell you are a man who can be trusted"

"he laid his hand on a great cow's hoof...and hurled it at him"

"he might well have strung it yet, if Odysseus did not put the end to his attempts with a shake of his head"

"he abhorred the Suitors' recklessness, and their conduct filled him with indignation"

"as a minstrel skilled at the lyre...he strung the great bow without effort or haste"

"his life-blood gushed from his nostrils in a turbid jet"

"spare us, who are your own people"

"the mistake was mine, and no one else is to blame"

"the vultures pounce on them and kill, and the men enjoy the hunting"

"the man is innocent, don't kill him"

"the women's heads were held fast in a row, with nooses round their necks, to bring them to the most pitiable end"

"sliced his nose and ears off...ripped away his genitals...lopped off his hands and feet"

"your heart always was harder than flint"

"move the great bed outside the bedroom"

"blissfully they lay down on their own familiar bed"

"he wept as he held his dear and loyal wife in his arms"

"how flawless was your faithful Penelope"

"if you who have come here really are my son...give me some definite proof"

"Pallas Athene...established peace between the two sides"