Homer - The Iliad

There is a fullness of all things, even of sleep and love.
Homer - The Odyssey
The gods, likening themselves to all kinds of strangers, go in various disguises from city to city, observing the wrongdoing and the righteousness of men.

Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.
Homer - The Odyssey
Dreams surely are difficult, confusing, and not everything in them is brought to pass for mankind. For fleeting dreams have two gates: one is fashioned of horn and one of ivory. Those which pass through the one of sawn ivory are deceptive, bringing tidings which come to nought, but those which issue from the one of polished horn bring true results when a mortal sees them.

It is entirely seemly for a young man killed in battle to lie mangled by the bronze spear. In his death all things appear fair. But when dogs shame the gray head and gray chin and nakedness of an old man killed, it is the most piteous thing that happens among wretched mortals.
Homer
Men grow tired of sleep, love, singing and dancing, sooner than war.
Homer - The Odyssey
All men have need of the gods.

You will certainly not be able to take the lead in all things yourself, for to one man a god has given deeds of war, and to another the dance, to another lyre and song, and in another wide-sounding Zeus puts a good mind.
Homer - The Odyssey
There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.
Homer - The Odyssey
It is tedious to tell again tales already plainly told.
Homer - The Odyssey
For rarely are sons similar to their fathers: most are worse, and a few are better than their fathers.
Homer - The Odyssey
A small rock holds back a great wave.

He lives not long who battles with the immortals, nor do his children prattle about his knees when he has come back from battle and the dread fray.
Homer
I detest that man who hides one thing in the depths of his heart, and speaks for another.
Homer - The Odyssey
Look now how mortals are blaming the gods, for they say that evils come from us, but in fact they themselves have woes beyond their share because of their own follies.
Homer - The Odyssey
Among all men on the earth bards have a share of honor and reverence, because the muse has taught them songs and loves the race of bards.

He knew the things that were and the things that would be and the things that had been before.

It is not unseemly for a man to die fighting in defense of his country.

Miserable mortals who, like leaves, at one moment flame with life, eating the produce of the land, and at another moment weakly perish.
Homer
Do thou restrain the haughty spirit in thy breast, for better far is gentle courtesy.

Of men who have a sense of honor, more come through alive than are slain, but from those who flee comes neither glory nor any help.
Homer
The difficulty is not so great to die for a friend, as to find a friend worth dying for.
Homer - The Odyssey
You ought not to practice childish ways, since you are no longer that age.
Homer - The Odyssey
Evil deeds do not prosper; the slow man catches up with the swift.

It was built against the will of the immortal gods, and so it did not last for long.
Homer - The Odyssey
Even his griefs are a joy long after to one that remembers all that he wrought and endured.
Homer - The Odyssey
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
The wine urges me on, the bewitching wine, which sets even a wise man to singing and to laughing gently and rouses him up to dance and brings forth words which were better unspoken.

If you are very valiant, it is a god, I think, who gave you this gift.

I too shall lie in the dust when I am dead, but now let me win noble renown.

Even when someone battles hard, there is an equal portion for one who lingers behind, and in the same honor are held both the coward and the brave man; the idle man and he who has done much meet death alike.

A multitude of rulers is not a good thing. Let there be one ruler, one king.

The fates have given mankind a patient soul.

Whoever obeys the gods, to him they particularly listen.
Homer - The Odyssey
All strangers and beggars are from Zeus, and a gift, though small, is precious.
Homer - The Odyssey
By their own follies they perished, the fools.

There is a strength in the union even of very sorry men.

Thus have the gods spun the thread for wretched mortals: that they live in grief while they themselves are without cares; for two jars stand on the floor of Zeus of the gifts which he gives, one of evils and another of blessings.

A councilor ought not to sleep the whole night through, a man to whom the populace is entrusted, and who has many responsibilities.

Once harm has been done, even a fool understands it.

The outcome of the war is in our hands; the outcome of words is in the council.

It is not possible to fight beyond your strength, even if you strive.
Homer - The Odyssey
We are quick to flare up, we races of men on the earth.
Homer - The Odyssey
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.

The glorious gifts of the gods are not to be cast aside.
Homer - The Odyssey
Nothing feebler than a man does the earth raise up, of all the things which breathe and move on the earth, for he believes that he will never suffer evil in the future, as long as the gods give him success and he flourishes in his strength; but when the blessed gods bring sorrows too to pass, even these he bears, against his will, with steadfast spirit, for the thoughts of earthly men are like the day which the father of gods and men brings upon them.
Homer
It is equally offensive to speed a guest who would like to stay and to detain one who is anxious to leave.
Homer - The Odyssey
So it is that the gods do not give all men gifts of grace - neither good looks nor intelligence nor eloquence.
Homer - The Odyssey
The minds of the everlasting gods are not changed suddenly.
Homer - The Illiad
Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.
Homer - The Odyssey
A young man is embarrassed to question an older one.

A generation of men is like a generation of leaves; the wind scatters some leaves upon the ground, while others the burgeoning wood brings forth - and the season of spring comes on. So of men one generation springs forth and another ceases.

- Homer - The Iliad