Homer - Iliad

144 Sourced Quotes

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To speak his thoughts is every freeman's right, in peace and war, in council and in fight.

Homer
The rule
Of the many is not well. One must be chief
In war and one the king.

Homer
The son of Saturn gave The nod with his dark brows. The ambrosial curls Upon the Sovereign One's immortal head Were shaken, and with them the mighty mount, Olympus trembled.

Homer
Now deep in ocean sunk the lamp of light, And drew behind the cloudy vale of night.

Homer
[But] age, the common enemy of mankind, has laid his hand upon you; would that it had fallen upon some other, and that you were still young.

Homer
One who journeying Along a way he knows not, having crossed A place of drear extent, before him sees A river rushing swiftly toward the deep, And all its tossing current white with foam, And stops and turns, and measures back his way.

Homer
As when the stars shine clear, and the moon is bright - there is not a breath of air, not a peak nor glade nor jutting headland, but it stands out in the ineffable radiance that breaks from the serene of heaven.

Homer
Jove lifts the golden balances that show
The fates of mortal men, and things below.

Homer
Not two strong men the enormous weight could raise,- Such men as live in these degenerate days.

Homer
Bursts as a wave that from the clouds impends, And swell'd with tempests on the ship descends; White are the decks with foam; the winds aloud Howl o'er the masts, and sing through every shroud: Pale, trembling, tir'd, the sailors freeze with fears; And instant death on every wave appears.

Homer
Tell me, O Muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy.

Homer
The God of War will see fair play-he's often slain that wants to slay!

Homer
Zeus it seems has given us from youth to old age a nice ball of wool to wind-nothing but wars upon wars until we shall perish every one.

Homer
The ugliest man was he who came to Troy; with squinting eyes and one distorted foot.

Homer
Now from the smooth deep ocean-stream the sun
Began to climb the heavens, and with new rays
Smote the surrounding fields.

Homer
Praise me not too much,
Nor blame me, for thou speakest to the Greeks
Who know me.

Homer
For when two Join in the same adventure, one perceives Before the other how they ought to act; While one alone, however prompt, resolves More tardily and with a weaker will.

Homer
The life, which others pay, let us bestow,
And give to fame what we to nature owe.

Homer
Men in their generations are like the leaves of the trees. The wind blows and one year's leaves are scattered on the ground; but the trees burst into bud and put on fresh ones when the spring comes round.

Homer
O Friends, be men, and let your hearts be strong And let no warrior in the heat of fight, Do what may bring him shame in others' eyes

Homer
A generous friendship no cold medium knows,
Burns with one love, with one resentment glows;
One should our interests and our passions be,
My friend must hate the man that injures me.

Homer
The thick tresses of gold with which Vulcan had crested the helmet floated round it, and as the evening star that shines brighter than all others through the stillness of night, even such was the gleam of the spear which Achilles poised in his right hand, fraught with the death of noble Hector.

Homer
And Heaven, that every virtue bears in mind, E'en to the ashes of the just is kind.

Homer
Take thou thy arms and come with me,
For we must quit ourselves like men, and strive
To air our cause, although we be but two.
Great is the strength of feeble arms combined,
And we can combat even with the brave.

Homer