"Notwithstanding the veneration due and paid to Homer, it is very strange, yet true, that among the most learned, and the greatest admirers of antiquity, there is scarce one to be found who ever read the Iliad with that eagerness and rapture which a woman feels when she reads the Novel of Zaïda... The common part of mankind is awed with the fame of Homer, rather than struck with his beauties."

"The Iliad, trans. Robert Fagles (Penguin, 1991),"

"Are vitality and creativity somehow connected with bellicosity? Could there have been Greek civilisation without this restless obsession with fighting? The place of Homer, especially the Iliad, in Greek culture accentuates these disturbing questions. While the cliché that Homer was "the Bible of the Greeks" is misleading – his was in no way a sacred or unquestionable text – he was central to their basic education, and at least as familiar as Shakespeare is to us, if not more so."

"Greek tragedy could never have flowered without Homer as its pioneer."

"The Iliad of Homer, trans. Richmond Lattimore (University of Chicago Press, 1951)"

"Facilius esse Herculi clavam quam Homero versum subripere."

"The poems of Homer and his contemporaries were the delight of infant Greece; they were the elements of that social system which is the column upon which all succeeding civilization has reposed. Homer embodied the ideal perfection of his age in human character; nor can we doubt that those who read his verses were awakened to an ambition of becoming like to Achilles, Hector, and Ulysses: the truth and beauty of friendship, patriotism, and persevering devotion to an object, were unveiled to the depths in these immortal creations."

"The first of the tragedians."

"Read Homer once, and you can read no more, For all things else will seem so dull and poor, You'l wish 't unread; but oft upon him look, And you will hardly need another book."

"But how did you come to have this skill about Homer only, and not about Hesiod or the other poets? Does not Homer speak of the same themes which all other poets handle? Is not war his great argument? and does he not speak of human society and of intercourse of men, good and bad, skilled and unskilled, and of the gods conversing with one another and with mankind, and about what happens in heaven and in the world below, and the generations of gods and heroes? Are not these the themes of which Homer sings?"

"As learned commentators view In Homer more than Homer knew."

"The Iliad of Homer, trans. Samuel Butler (1898)"

"The Iliad of Homer, trans. Andrew Lang, Walter Leaf and Ernest Myers (1883)"

"Ῥεῖα δ' ἀρίγνωτος Διὸς ἀνδράσι γίγνεται ἀλκή."

"Οὔ οἱ ἀεικὲς ἀμυνομένῳ περὶ πάτρης τεθνάμεν."

"Ὕπνε ἄναξ πάντων τε θεῶν πάντων τ' ἀνθρώπων."

"Ἔνθ' ἔνι μὲν φιλότης, ἐν δ' ἵμερος, ἐν δ' ὀαριστὺς πάρφασις, ἥ τ' ἔκλεψε νόον πύκα περ φρονεόντων."

"Ἔνθ' Ὕπνῳ ξύμβλητο κασιγνήτῳ Θανάτοιο."

"Αἰδομένων δ' ἀνδρῶν πλέονες σόοι ἠὲ πέφανται· φευγόντων δ' οὔτ' ἂρ κλέος ὄρνυται οὔτέ τις ἀλκή."

"Οὐ γάρ τις νέμεσις φυγέειν κακόν, οὐδ' ἀνὰ νύκτα. βέλτερον ὃς φεύγων προφύγῃ κακὸν ἠὲ ἁλώῃ."

"Φράξαντες δόρυ δουρί, σάκος σάκεϊ προθελύμνῳ· ἀσπὶς ἄρ' ἀσπίδ' ἔρειδε, κόρυς κόρυν, ἀνέρα δ' ἀνήρ."

"Τοὶ δ' ἔριδος κρατερῆς καὶ ὁμοιΐου πτολέμοιο πεῖραρ ἐπαλλάξαντες ἐπ' ἀμφοτέροισι τάνυσσαν ἄῤῥηκτόν τ' ἄλυτόν τε, τὸ πολλῶν γούνατ' ἔλυσεν."

"Ὦ πέπον εἰ μὲν γὰρ πόλεμον περὶ τόνδε φυγόντε αἰεὶ δὴ μέλλοιμεν ἀγήρω τ' ἀθανάτω τε ἔσσεσθ', οὔτέ κεν αὐτὸς ἐνὶ πρώτοισι μαχοίμην οὔτέ κε σὲ στέλλοιμι μάχην ἐς κυδιάνειραν· νῦν δ' ἔμπης γὰρ κῆρες ἐφεστᾶσιν θανάτοιο μυρίαι, ἃς οὐκ ἔστι φυγεῖν βροτὸν οὐδ' ὑπαλύξαι, ἴομεν ἠέ τῳ εὖχος ὀρέξομεν ἠέ τις ἡμῖν."

"Ἀλλ' εἰ δή ῥα τότε βλάπτε φρένας εὐρύοπα Ζεὺς ἡμετέρας, νῦν αὐτὸς ἐποτρύνει καὶ ἀνώγει."

"Ἰητρὸς γὰρ ἀνὴρ πολλῶν ἀντάξιος ἄλλων ἰούς τ' ἐκτάμνειν ἐπί τ' ἤπια φάρμακα πάσσειν."

"Εἷς οἰωνὸς ἄριστος ἀμύνεσθαι περὶ πάτρης."

"Ἄλλῳ μὲν γὰρ ἔδωκε θεὸς πολεμήϊα ἔργα, ἄλλῳ δ' ὀρχηστύν, ἑτέρῳ κίθαριν καὶ ἀοιδήν, ἄλλῳ δ' ἐν στήθεσσι τιθεῖ νόον εὐρύοπα Ζεὺς ἐσθλόν, τοῦ δέ τε πολλοὶ ἐπαυρίσκοντ' ἄνθρωποι."

"Ἐπὶ ξυροῦ ἵσταται ἀκμῆς ...ὄλεθρος...Ἀχαιοῖς ἠὲ βιῶναι."

"Ἀνδρὸς δὲ ψυχὴ πάλιν ἐλθεῖν οὔτε λεϊστὴ οὔθ' ἑλετή, ἐπεὶ ἄρ κεν ἀμείψεται ἕρκος ὀδόντων."

"εἰ μέν κ᾽ αὖθι μένων Τρώων πόλιν ἀμφιμάχωμαι, ὤλετο μέν μοι νόστος, ἀτὰρ κλέος ἄφθιτον ἔσται."

"Κάτθαν' ὁμῶς ὅ τ' ἀεργὸς ἀνὴρ ὅ τε πολλὰ ἐοργώς."

"Ἀφρήτωρ ἀθέμιστος ἀνέστιός ἐστιν ἐκεῖνος ὃς πολέμου ἔραται ἐπιδημίου ὀκρυόεντος."

"Ἐχθρὸς γάρ μοι κεῖνος ὁμῶς Ἀΐδαο πύλῃσιν ὅς χ' ἕτερον μὲν κεύθῃ ἐνὶ φρεσίν, ἄλλο δὲ εἴπῃ."

"Μύθων τε ῥητῆρ' ἔμεναι πρηκτῆρά τε ἔργων."

"Ὡς δ' ὅτ' ἐν οὐρανῷ ἄστρα φαεινὴν ἀμφὶ σελήνην φαίνετ' ἀριπρεπέα, ὅτε τ' ἔπλετο νήνεμος αἰθήρ· ἔκ τ' ἔφανεν πᾶσαι σκοπιαὶ καὶ πρώονες ἄκροι καὶ νάπαι· οὐρανόθεν δ' ἄρ' ὑπεῤῥάγη ἄσπετος αἰθήρ, πάντα δὲ εἴδεται ἄστρα, γέγηθε δέ τε φρένα ποιμήν."

"Ἀλλ' ὑμεῖς μὲν πάντες ὕδωρ καὶ γαῖα γένοισθε ἥμενοι αὖθι ἕκαστοι ἀκήριοι ἀκλεὲς αὔτως."

"Μήκων δ' ὡς ἑτέρωσε κάρη βάλεν, ἥ τ' ἐνὶ κήπῳ καρπῷ βριθομένη νοτίῃσί τε εἰαρινῇσιν, ὣς ἑτέρωσ' ἤμυσε κάρη πήληκι βαρυνθέν."

"Αἴδεσθεν μὲν ἀνήνασθαι, δεῖσαν δ' ὑποδέχθαι."

"Καὶ γάρ τε λιταί εἰσι Διὸς κοῦραι μεγάλοιο χωλαί τε ῥυσαί τε παραβλῶπές τ' ὀφθαλμώ, αἵ ῥά τε καὶ μετόπισθ' ἄτης ἀλέγουσι κιοῦσαι."

"Ἐν γὰρ χερσὶ τέλος πολέμου, ἐπέων δ' ἐνὶ βουλῇ."

"Δακρυόεν γελάσασα."

"Μοῖραν δ' οὔ τινά φημι πεφυγμένον ἔμμεναι ἀνδρῶν, οὐ κακὸν οὐδὲ μὲν ἐσθλόν, ἐπὴν τὰ πρῶτα γένηται."

"Ἐν δ' ἔπεσ' Ὠκεανῷ λαμπρὸν φάος ἠελίοιο ἕλκον νύκτα μέλαιναν ἐπὶ ζείδωρον ἄρουραν."

"Καί ποτέ τις εἴποι πατρός γ' ὅδε πολλὸν ἀμείνων."

"Οἵη περ φύλλων γενεὴ τοίη δὲ καὶ ἀνδρῶν. φύλλα τὰ μέν τ' ἄνεμος χαμάδις χέει, ἄλλα δέ θ' ὕλη τηλεθόωσα φύει, ἔαρος δ' ἐπιγίγνεται ὥρη· ὣς ἀνδρῶν γενεὴ ἣ μὲν φύει ἣ δ' ἀπολήγει."

"Αἰὲν ἀριστεύειν καὶ ὑπείροχον ἔμμεναι ἄλλων."

"Εἰ δέ τίς ἐσσι βροτῶν οἳ ἀρούρης καρπὸν ἔδουσιν, ἆσσον ἴθ' ὥς κεν θᾶσσον ὀλέθρου πείραθ' ἵκηαι."

"Τοίω τὼ χείρεσσιν ὑπ' Αἰνείαο δαμέντε καππεσέτην, ἐλάτῃσιν ἐοικότες ὑψηλῇσι."

"Στέντορι εἰσαμένη μεγαλήτορι χαλκεοφώνῳ, ὃς τόσον αὐδήσασχ' ὅσον ἄλλοι πεντήκοντα."