Epic poem

Explore 101 quotes from the following genre: Epic poem

It is no cause for anger that the Trojans and the well-greaved Achaeans have suffered for so long over such a woman: she is wondrously like the immortal goddesses to look upon.

Homer

The Iliad

On Helen of Troy.

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Topic

Women's attractiveness

Speaker

The Trojans

Author

Homer

Source

The Iliad

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ἰλιάς [The Iliad], edited by Demetrius Chalcondyles. Florence: Bernardus Nerlius and Demetrius Damilas, 1489, bk. 3, l. 156.

Current Citation

Homer. The Iliad, translated by Robert Fitzgerald. Oxford University Press, 2014, bk. 3, l. 156.

The immortals will send you to the Elysian plain at the ends of the earth, where fair-haired Rhadamanthys is. There life is supremely easy for men. No snow is there, nor ever heavy winter storm, nor rain, and Ocean is ever sending gusts of the clear-blowing west wind to bring coolness to men.

Homer

The Odyssey

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Topic

Elysian Fields The afterlife

Author

Homer

Source

The Odyssey

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ὀδύσσεια [Odyssey]. c. 710 BC, bk. 4, l. 563-568.

Current Citation

Homer. The Odyssey, edited by Bernard Knox, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2006, bk. 4, l. 563-568.

I would rather be tied to the soil as another man's serf, even a poor man's, who hadn't much to live on himself, than be King of all these the dead and destroyed.

Homer

The Odyssey

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Topic

Life is precious Life and death

Speaker

Odysseus

Author

Homer

Source

The Odyssey

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ὀδύσσεια [Odyssey]. c. 710 BC, bk. 11, l. 489-491.

Current Citation

Homer. The Odyssey, edited by Bernard Knox, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2006, bk. 11, l. 489-491.

It is equally wrong to speed a guest who does not want to go, and to keep one back who is eager. You ought to make welcome the present guest, and send forth the one who wishes to go.

Homer

The Odyssey

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Topic

Hospitality Guests and visitors

Author

Homer

Source

The Odyssey

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ὀδύσσεια [Odyssey]. c. 710 BC, bk. 15, l. 72-74.

Current Citation

Homer. The Odyssey, edited by Bernard Knox, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2006, bk. 15, l. 72-74.

In solitude
What happiness? who can enjoy alone,
Or all enjoying, what contentment find?

John Milton

Paradise Lost

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Topic

Solitude Loneliness

Author

John Milton

Source

Paradise Lost

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem Religious literature

Language

English

Time

1667 1660s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Milton, John. Paradise Lost. London: Samuel Simmons, 1667, bk. 7, I. 1001.

Current Citation

"Paradise Lost." John Milton: Major Works, edited by Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 8, I. 364.

What thou art is mine;
Our state cannot be severed, we are one,
One flesh; to lose thee were to lose my self.

John Milton

Paradise Lost

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Topic

Men and women Love

Author

John Milton

Source

Paradise Lost

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem Religious literature

Statement Type

Profession of love

Language

English

Time

1667 1660s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Milton, John. Paradise Lost. London: Samuel Simmons, 1667, bk. 8, I. 957.

Current Citation

"Paradise Lost." John Milton: Major Works, edited by Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 9, I. 957.

The infernal serpent; he it was, whose guile,
Stirr'd up with envy and revenge, deceiv'd
The mother of mankind.

John Milton

Paradise Lost

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Topic

The devil Original sin Eve

Author

John Milton

Source

Paradise Lost

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem Religious literature

Language

English

Time

1667 1660s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Samuel Simmons, 1667, bk. 1, I. 34.

Current Citation

Milton, John. "Paradise Lost." John Milton: Major Works, edited by Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 1, I. 34.

We sighted, far away, dim hills and a low coast-line-Italy.
Achates was the first to hail, "Italy! Italy!" my comrades echoed in cheerful greeting.

Virgil

Aeneid

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Topic

Italy Homecoming

Author

Virgil

Source

Aeneid

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Latin

Time

19 BC 10s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Virgil. Aenē̆is [Aeneid]. 19 BC, bk. 3.

Current Citation

Virgil. The Aeneid, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2010, bk. 3.

Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts
And Eloquence.

John Milton

Paradise Regained

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Topic

Athens

Author

John Milton

Source

Paradise Regained

Medium

Poem

Genre

Religious literature Epic poem

Language

English

Time

1671 1670s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Milton, John. "Paradise Regained." Paradise Regained, A Poem in 4 Books, to which is added Samson Agonistes. London: John Starkey, 1671, bk. 4, I. 240.

Current Citation

Milton, John. "Paradise Regained." John Milton: Major Works, edited by Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 4, I. 240.

He hears
On all sides, from innumerable tongues
A dismal universal hiss, the sound
Of public scorn.

John Milton

Paradise Lost

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Topic

Haters gonna hate Criticism from others

Author

John Milton

Source

Paradise Lost

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem Religious literature

Language

English

Time

1667 1660s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Milton, John. Paradise Lost. London: Samuel Simmons, 1667, bk. 9, I. 506-509.

Current Citation

"Paradise Lost." John Milton: Major Works, edited by Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 10, I. 506-509.

Most men admire
Virtue who follow not her lore.

John Milton

Paradise Regained

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Topic

Virtue

Author

John Milton

Source

Paradise Regained

Medium

Poem

Genre

Religious literature Epic poem

Language

English

Time

1671 1670s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Milton, John. "Paradise Regained." Paradise Regained, A Poem in 4 Books, to which is added Samson Agonistes. London: John Starkey, 1671, bk. 1, I. 482.

Current Citation

Milton, John. "Paradise Regained." John Milton: Major Works, edited by Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 1, I. 482.

Now glowed the firmament
With living sapphires: Hesperus that led
The starry Host, rode brightest, till the Moon
Rising in clouded Majesty, at length
Apparent Queen unveiled her peerless light,
And o'er the dark her Silver Mantle threw.

John Milton

Paradise Lost

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Topic

The night sky Moonlight The moon

Author

John Milton

Source

Paradise Lost

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem Religious literature

Language

English

Time

1667 1660s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Milton, John. Paradise Lost. London: Samuel Simmons, 1667, bk. 4, I. 604.

Current Citation

"Paradise Lost." John Milton: Major Works, edited by Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 4, I. 604.

I sing of arms and the man who first from the shores of Troy came destined an exile to Italy and the Lavinian beaches, a man much buffeted on land and on the deep by force of the gods because of fierce Juno's never-forgetting anger.

Virgil

Aeneid

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Author

Virgil

Source

Aeneid

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Statement Type

Opening lines

Language

Latin

Time

19 BC 10s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Virgil. Aenē̆is [Aeneid]. 19 BC, bk. 1.

Current Citation

Virgil. The Aeneid, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2010, bk. 1.

From the days of old there is no permanence. The sleeping and the dead, how alike they are, they are like a painted death. What is there between the master and the servant when both have fulfilled their doom?

The Epic of Gilgamesh

More information about this quote

Topic

Impermanence Sleep and death Equality in death

Source

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Akkadian

Time

1000 BC 1000s BC 11th century BC

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Anonymous. The Epic of Gilgamesh, n. d.

Current Citation

Anonymous. The Epic of Gilgamesh, edited by Benjamin R. Foster. W. W. Norton & Company, 2019.

The fates have given mankind a patient soul.

Homer

The Iliad

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Topic

Patience

Author

Homer

Source

The Iliad

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ἰλιάς [The Iliad], edited by Demetrius Chalcondyles. Florence: Bernardus Nerlius and Demetrius Damilas, 1489, bk. 24, l. 49.

Current Citation

Homer. The Iliad, translated by Robert Fitzgerald. Oxford University Press, 2014, bk. 24, l. 49.

Whosoever obeys the gods, to him they particularly listen.

Homer

The Iliad

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Topic

Obedience to God

Author

Homer

Source

The Iliad

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ἰλιάς [The Iliad], edited by Demetrius Chalcondyles. Florence: Bernardus Nerlius and Demetrius Damilas, 1489, bk. 1, l. 218.

Current Citation

Homer. The Iliad, translated by Robert Fitzgerald. Oxford University Press, 2014, bk. 1, l. 218.

Have patience, heart. Once you endured worse than this.

Homer

The Odyssey

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Topic

Patience Perseverance

Author

Homer

Source

The Odyssey

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ὀδύσσεια [Odyssey]. c. 710 BC, bk. 20, l. 18.

Current Citation

Homer. The Odyssey, edited by Bernard Knox, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2006, bk. 20, l. 18.

Therefore don't you be gentle to your wife either. Don't tell her everything you know, but tell her one thing and keep another thing hidden.

Homer

The Odyssey

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Topic

Trustworthiness of women Gender relations Marriage Secrets

Author

Homer

Source

The Odyssey

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ὀδύσσεια [Odyssey]. c. 710 BC, bk. 11, l. 441-443.

Current Citation

Homer. The Odyssey, edited by Bernard Knox, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2006, bk. 11, l. 441-443.

May the gods grant you all things which your heart desires, and may they give you a husband and a home and gracious concord, for there is nothing greater and better than this-when a husband and wife keep a household in oneness of mind, a great woe to their enemies and joy to their friends and win high renown.

Homer

The Odyssey

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Topic

Marriage

Author

Homer

Source

The Odyssey

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Statement Type

Well-wishing

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ὀδύσσεια [Odyssey]. c. 710 BC, bk. 6, l. 180-185.

Current Citation

Homer. The Odyssey, edited by Bernard Knox, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2006, bk. 6, l. 180-185.

Come hither, renowned Odysseus, hither, you pride and glory of all Achaea! Pause with your ship; listen to our song. Never has any man passed this way in his dark vessel and left unheard the honey-sweet music from our lips; first he has taken his delight, then gone on his way a wiser man. We know of all the sorrows in the wide land of Troy that Argives and Trojans bore because the gods would needs have it so; we know of all things that come to pass on the fruitful earth.

Homer

The Odyssey

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Topic

Temptation

Author

Homer

Source

The Odyssey

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ὀδύσσεια [Odyssey]. c. 710 BC, bk. 12, l. 184-191.

Current Citation

Homer. The Odyssey, edited by Bernard Knox, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2006, bk. 12, l. 184-191.