Odyssey Quotes

1. Odyssey Quotes Part II

2. Boasting • “‘Now watch me hit a target that no man has hit before.’” • The beggar (Odysseus) is bragging about how he is going to shoot Antinous (the target)

3. Authority and Determination • “‘You yellow dogs, you thought I’d never make it / home from the land of Troy. You took my house to plunder, / twisted my maids to serve your beds. You dared / bid for my wife while I was still alive. / Contempt was all you had for the gods who rule wide / heaven, / contempt for what men say of you hereafter. / Your last hour has come. You die in blood.’” • Odysseus tells the suitors they will pay for invading his home, taking advantage of his wife, and plotting to kill his son.

4. Hospitality Code • “‘I find / the two of you, alone among my people, / longed for my coming. Prayers I never heard / except your own that I might come again. / So now what is in store for you I’ll tell you: / If Zeus brings down the suitors by my hand / I promise marriages to both, and cattle, / and houses built near mine. And you shall be / brothers-in-arms of my Telemachus.’” • If Eumaeus and Philoeteus help bring down the suitors, Odysseus will reward them with ladies, cattle, and homes—not too shabby!

5. Loyalty and Determination • “Now from his breast into his eyes the ache / of longing mounted, and he wept at last, / his dear wife, clear and faithful in his arms.” • Odysseus’ loyalty and determination lead him back to the arms of Penelope.

6. Loyalty, Cleverness, and Determination • “Both men looked, and knew / and threw their arms around the old soldier, weeping, / kissing his head and shoulders. He as well / took each man’s head and hands to kiss, then said -- / to cut it short, else they might weep till dark -- / ‘Break off, no more of this. / Anyone at the door could see and tell them. / Drift back in, but separately at intervals / after me.” • The herders demonstrate loyalty to Odysseus by welcoming him home. Odysseus displays cleverness and determination by telling them to cut the celebration short to keep his identity a secret

7. Exaggeration/Battle Skills • “Now flashed / arrow from twanging bow clean as a whistle / through every socket ring, / and grazed not one, / to thud with heavy brazen head beyond.” • Odysseus makes the impossible shot (an arrow through 12 axe-rings in a line)

8. Loyalty • “‘Peace: let your mother test me at her leisure. / Before long she will see and know me best. / These tatters, dirt—all that I’m caked with now-- / make her look hard at me and doubt me still.” • Odysseus trusts Penelope and will let her test him to be certain he is her husband.

9. Divine Intervention • “Athena / lent him beauty, head to foot, She made him / taller, and massive, too, with crisping hair in curls like petals of wild hyacinth / but all red-golden.” • Athena transforms the beggar back into handsome Odysseus to be reunited with Penelope

10. Loyalty • “Now Penelope / sank down, holding the weapon on her knees, / and drew her husband’s great bow out, and sobbed / and bit her lip and let the tears flow.” • Penelope, still in love with Odysseus, is moved to tears at the sight of his hunting bow and at the thought of choosing a new husband

11. Authority, Cleverness, and Determination • “‘Not for the whole treasure of your fathers, / all you enjoy, lands, flocks, or any gold / put up by others, would I hold my hand. / There will be killing till the score is paid, / You forced yourselves upon this house. / Fight your way out, / or run for it, if you think you’ll escape death.’” • Odysseus is clever enough to see through Eurymachus’ bribe. He is determined to make the suitors pay and demonstrates authority by punishing them with death

12. Divine Intervention • “. . . She tipped her golden wand upon the man, / making his cloak pure white, and the knit tunic / fresh around him. Lithe and young she made him, / ruddy with the sun, his jawline clean, the beard / no longer gray upon his chin.” • Athena transforms the beggar back into Odysseus to be reunited with Telemachus

13. Boasting • “‘The stranger / you welcomed in your hall has not disgraced you. / I did not miss, neither did I take all day / stringing the bow. My hand and eye are sound, / not so contemptible as the young men say.’” • Odysseus brags that it didn’t take him forever to string the bow and hit the target.

14. Determination and Boasting • “‘I am home, for I am he. / I bore adversities, but in the twentieth year / I am ashore in my own land.’” • Odysseus has overcome many obstacles to return to Ithaca and never gave up, even though it took him 20 years

15. Exaggeration/Battle Skills • “He draws between his thumb and forefinger / a sweet new string upon a peg: so effortlessly / Odysseus in one motion strung the bow.” • Odysseus can string the bow in one try, yet the suitors could barely even bend it.

16. Loyalty, Determination, and Cleverness • “But when he knew he heard / Odysseus’ voice nearby, he did his best / to wag his tail, nose down, with flattened ears, / having no strength to move nearer his master. / And the man looked away, / wiping a salt tear from his cheek; but he / hid this from Eumaeus.” • Argos demonstrates loyalty to Odysseus through his determination to stay alive until his master returns. Odysseus shows cleverness by trying to keep his identity a secret; he is determined to hide his feelings until the right time.