The Odyssey Quotes

Quotes from EV Rieu's translation of The Odyssey

Zeus' comment on mankind blaming the gods, Book 1

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

Telemachus on the Suitors’ greed, Book 1

“they are eating me out of house and home”

Athene/Mentes' comment to Telemachus on the suitors, Book 1

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

Telemachus showing authority to the Suitors, Book 1

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

Antinous being difficult, Book 2

"we will not return to our own estates"

Athene advising Telemachus, Book 3

"Telemachus, you must forget your diffidence"

Menelaus on Telemachus and Peisistratus' looks, Book 4

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

Peisistratus on fathers and sons, Book 4

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

Antinous plotting to kill Telemachus, Book 4

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

Zeus in response to Athene's pathos, Book 5

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

Odysseus first descriptors, Book 5

"disconsolate on the shore"

Odysseus' homesickness, Book 5

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

Calypso on Odysseus and Penelope, Book 5

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

Poseidon's response to Odysseus leaving Ogygia, Book 5

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

Odysseus losing hope of kleos and nostos, Book 5

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

Odysseus distrusting Ino, Book 5

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

Odysseus complimenting Nausicaa, Book 6

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

Simile describing Odysseus approaching Nausicaa, Book 6

"he advanced on them like a mountain lion"

Nausicaa's opinion on Odysseus, Book 6

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

Nausicaa showing good xenia, Book 6

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

Nausicaa describing the Phaecians, Book 6

"they are supercilious people"

Athene/young girl describing the Phaecians, Book 7

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

Evidence of Arete's authority, Book 7

"she settles even men's disputes"

Odysseus crying, Book 8

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

Odysseus on his sporting prowess, Book 8

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

The gods' comment on the story of the infidelity of Ares and Aphrodite, Book 8

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

Odysseus introducing his tale to the Phaecians, Book 9

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

Odysseus on his priorities and wants for nostos, Book 9

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

Odysseus' good leadership with the Cicones' plunder, Book 9

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

Odysseus' men disobeying him, Book 9

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

Odysseus' motivation for going to the cave, Book 9

"had hopes of some friendly gifts from my host"

Polyphemus' hubris, Book 9

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

Gory details of Polyphemus' blinding, Book 9

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

Odysseus' men calling him out on his recklessness, Book 9

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

Odysseus on his return to Aeolus, Book 10

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

Aeolus' refusal of Odysseus, Book 10

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

Simile describing the Laestrygonian massacre, Book 10

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

Odysseus on feeling responsible for saving his men from Circe, Book 10

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

Circe's xenia on meeting Odysseus, Book 10

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

Eurylochus on Odysseus being foolhardy, Book 10

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

Odysseus' men after a year on Circe's island, Book 10

"it's time you thought of Ithaca"

Odysseus being guided by Circe's advice, Book 10

"my lady Circe has made everything clear"

Elpenor's request of Odysseus from the Underworld, Book 11

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

Tiresias' prophecy for Odysseus' death, Book 11

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

Odysseus' demand of his mother in the Underworld, Book 11

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

Odysseus trying to hug Anticleia, Book 11

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

Agamemnon on Clytemnestra, Book 11

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

Achilles advising Odysseus on death, Book 11

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

Description of the Sirens, Book 12

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

Odysseus hiding information from his men to protect them, Book 12

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

Odysseus' men's punishment for eating the Cattle of the Sun, Book 12

"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"

Odysseus surviving Charybdis, Book 12

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

Poseidon's lesson to the Phaecians, Book 13

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

Athene comparing Odysseus’ skills, Book 13

“in the world of men you have no rival in judgement and argument”

Athene on why she favourites Odysseus, Book 13

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

Athene on why she couldn't be seen to help Odysseus, Book 13

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

Athene's bloodlust for the suitors' deaths, Book 13

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

Eumaeus giving great xenia despite owning little, Book 14

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

Eumaeus on Odysseus' kindness, Book 14

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

The omens sent to Telemachus, Book 15

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

Eumaeus on female infidelity, Book 15

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

Simile to show how Eumaeus treats Telemachus, Book 16

"like a fond father welcoming his son back"

The first action of Odysseus and Telemachus meeting, Book 16

"Odysseus his father rose to give him a seat"

Odysseus and Telemachus' pathetic reunion, Book 16

"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's opinion on Amphinomus, Book 16

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

Penelope's view on Antinous, Book 16

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

Eurymachus hiding his evil intentions, Book 16

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

Penelope's duality shown in goddesses, Book 17

"looking like Artemis or golden Aphrodite"

Melanthius' treatment of Odysseus the beggar, Book 17

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

Eumaeus' commentary on slavery, Book 17

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

Athene urges Odysseus to collect scraps from the Suitors, Book 17

"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"

Antinous' treatment of Odysseus the beggar, Book 17

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

Suitors' reaction to Antinous' actions, Book 17

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

Odysseus threatens Irus, Book 18

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

Odysseus' commentary on Irus after defeating him, Book 18

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

The Suitors' lust for Penelope, Book 18

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

Odysseus' delight at Penelope's cunning, Book 18

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

Melantho's view of Odysseus the beggar, Book 19

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

Odysseus and Penelope's kleos is mirrored, Book 19

"your fame has reached broad heaven itself"

Odysseus' response to Eurycleia's realisation, Book 19

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

Eurycleia is subtly described by Odysseus, Book 19

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

Penelope organising the test with the axes, Book 19

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

Athene's message of trust in Odysseus, Book 20

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

Odysseus' view on Philoetius the cowherd, Book 20

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

Ctessipus' treatment of Odysseus the beggar, Book 20

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

Telemachus nearly succeeding to string the bow, Book 21

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

Leodes the soothsayer's view of the Suitors, Book 21

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

Simile about Odysseus stringing the great bow, Book 21

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

Antinous' gruesome death, Book 22

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

Eurymachus' appeal for mercy, Book 22

"spare us, who are your own people"

Telemachus having left the armoury unlocked, Book 22

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

The metaphor used to show Odysseus' crew bloodthirstiness, Book 22

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

Telemachus sparing Phemius the minstrel and Medon the herald, Book 22

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

Telemachus' punishment of the slave women, Book 22

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

Melanthius' violent death, Book 22

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

Telemachus insults Penelope on her hard-heartedness, Book 23

"your heart always was harder than flint"

Penelope's test for Odysseus, Book 23

"move the great bed outside the bedroom"

Odysseus' nostos to his bed and his wife, Book 23

"blissfully they lay down on their own familiar bed"

Odysseus' pathetic reunion with Penelope, Book 23

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

Agamemnon's compliment of Penelope, Book 24

"how flawless was your faithful Penelope"