“Of all creatures that breathe and move upon the earth, nothing is bred that is weaker than man.”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“A man who has been through bitter experiences and travelled far enjoys even his sufferings after a time”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“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.”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“For a friend with an understanding heart is worth no less than a brother”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“Be strong, saith my heart; I am a soldier;
I have seen worse sights than this.”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“Sleep, delicious and profound, the very counterfeit of death”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“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.”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“[I]t is the wine that leads me on,
the wild wine
that sets the wisest man to sing
at the top of his lungs,
laugh like a fool – it drives the
man to dancing... it even
tempts him to blurt out stories
better never told.”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“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.”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“Each man delights in the work that suits him best.”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“some things you will think of yourself,...some things God will put into your mind”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“The blade itself incites to deeds of violence.”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“There will be killing till the score is paid.”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“Now from his breast into the eyes the ache
of longing mounted, and he wept at last,
his dear wife, clear and faithful, in his arms,
longed for as the sunwarmed earth is longed for by a swimmer
spent in rough water where his ship went down
under Poseidon's blows, gale winds and tons of sea.
Few men can keep alive through a big serf
to crawl, clotted with brine, on kindly beaches
in joy, in joy, knowing the abyss behind:
and so she too rejoiced, her gaze upon her husband,
her white arms round him pressed as though forever.”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“Few sons are like their fathers--most are worse, few better.”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“Why cover the same ground again? ... It goes against my grain to repeat a tale told once, and told so clearly.”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“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.”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“Immortals are never alien to one another.”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“Yea, and if some god shall wreck me in the wine-dark deep,
even so I will endure…
For already have I suffered full much,
and much have I toiled in perils of waves and war.
Let this be added to the tale of those.”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“Even his griefs are a joy long after to one that remembers all that he wrought and endured.”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“These nights are endless, and a man can sleep through them,
or he can enjoy listening to stories, and you have no need
to go to bed before it is time. Too much sleep is only
a bore. And of the others, any one whose heart and spirit
urge him can go outside and sleep, and then, when the dawn shows,
breakfast first, then go out to tend the swine of our master.
But we two, sitting here in the shelter, eating and drinking,
shall entertain each other remembering and retelling
our sad sorrows. For afterwards a man who has suffered
much and wandered much has pleasure out of his sorrows.”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“Aries in his many fits knows no favorites.”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“down from his brow
she ran his curls
like thick hyacinth clusters
full of blooms”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“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.”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“[B]ut it is only what happens, when they die, to all mortals.
The sinews no longer hold the flesh and the bones together,
and once the spirit has let the white bones, all the rest
of the body is made subject to the fire's strong fury,
but the soul flitters out like a dream and flies away.”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
“By hook or by crook this peril too shall be something that we remember”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
Homer
Born place: Greece
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“And it came to me that these trees had been hardly smaller when I was yet unborn, and had stood as they stood now when I was a child playing among the cypresses and peaceful tombs of our necropolis, and that they would stand yet, drinking in the light of the dying sun, even as now, when I had been dead as long as those who rested there. I saw how little it weighed on the scale of things whether I lived or died, though my life was precious to me. And of those two thoughts I forged a mood by which I stood ready to grasp each smallest chance to live, yet in which I cared not too much whether I saved myself or not. By that mood, as I think, I did live; it has been so good a friend to me that I have endeavored to wear it ever since, succeeding not always, but often.”
― Gene Wolfe, quote from Shadow and Claw
“In a few months I was a seasoned guide. I had viewed myself as an amateur guide and a professional shopman, but now gradually I began to think of myself as a part-time shop-keeper and a full-time tourist guide.”
― R.K. Narayan, quote from The Guide
“And you got to blow up that awful wedding,”
― Damian Wampler, quote from Sevara: Dawn of Hope
“The next morning we reach the Cilician Gates, and look out over one of the most beautiful views I know. It is like standing on the rim of the world and looking down on the promised land, and one feels much as Moses must have felt. For here, too, there is no entering in. ... The soft, hazy dark blue loveliness is a land one will never reach; the actual towns and villages when one gets there will be only the ordinary everyday world—not this enchanted beauty that beckons you down.”
― quote from Come, Tell Me How You Live
“You can be anything you want. Fate deals us our hand, but we decide how to play it. We all of us choose the people we want to be.”
― Jay Kristoff, quote from Endsinger
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The Philosopher and...BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.
Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.
