Sappho Quotes

#1. No holy place existed without us then,
no woodland, no dance, no sound.
Beyond all hope, I prayed those timeless
days we spent might be made twice as long.
I prayed one word: I want.
Someone, I tell you, will remember us,
even in another time.

Sappho

#2. From all the offspring of the earth and heaven love is the most precious.

Sappho

#3. Their heart grew cold
they let their wings down

Sappho

#4. I do not know what to do, my mind's in two.

Sappho

#5. Eros the melter of limbs (now again) stirs me -
sweetbitter unmanageable creature who steals in

Sappho

#6. Eros harrows my heart: wild gales sweeping desolate mountains, uprooting oaks.

Sappho

#7. Eros seizes and shakes my very soul like the wind on the mountain
shaking ancient oaks.

Sappho

#8. We shall enjoy it
As for him who finds
fault, may silliness
and sorrow take him!

Sappho

#9. The evening star Is the most beautiful of all stars

Sappho

#10. I said: 'Go with my blessing if you go
Always remembering what we did. To me
You have meant everything, as you well know.

Sappho

#11. There is no place for grief in a house which serves the Muse.

Sappho

#12. With his venom irresistible and bittersweet that loosener of limbs, Love reptile-like strikes me down

Sappho

#13. The moon has set, and the Pleiades; it is midnight, and time passes, and I sleep alone.

Sappho

#14. Love shook my heart like a wind falling on oaks
on a mountain.

Sappho

#15. Mere air, these words, but delicious to hear.

Sappho

#16. Once again Love, that loosener of limbs,
bittersweet and inescapable, crawling thing,
seizes me.

Sappho

#17. And a sweet expression spreads over her fair face.

Sappho

#18. You may forget but
let me tell you
this: someone in
some future time
will think of us

Sappho

#19. Although only breath, words which I speak are immortal.

Sappho

#20. In the crooks of your body, I find my religon.

Sappho

#21. In gold sandals / dawn like a thief / fell upon me.

Sappho

#22. Raise high the roof beam, carpenters. Like Ares comes the bridegroom, taller far than a tall man.

Sappho

#23. for you beautiful ones my thought
is not changeable

Sappho

#24. Stand and face me, my love,
and scatter the grace in your eyes.

Sappho

#25. Love - bittersweet, irrepressible - loosens my limbs and I tremble.

Sappho

#26. ]sing to us
the one with violets in her lap
]mostly
]goes astray

Sappho

#27. Wealth without real worthiness
Is no good for the neighbourhood;
But their proper mixture
Is the summit of beatitude.

Sappho

#28. What cannot be said will be wept.

Sappho

#29. Because I prayed
this word:
I want

Sappho

#30. When they were tired
Night rained her
thick dark sleep
upon their eyes.

Sappho

#31. Love, like a mountain-wind upon an oak, falling upon me, shakes me leaf and bough.

Sappho

#32. The moon is setand the Pleiades; Middle ofthe night, time passes by,I lie alone.

Sappho

#33. In fact she herself once blamed me
Kyprogeneia
because I prayed
this word:
I want.

Sappho

#34. He who is fair to look upon is good, and he who is good will soon be fair also.

Sappho

#35. You came and I was crazy for you
and you cooled my mind that burned with longing

Sappho

#36. Someone will remember us
I say
even in another time

Sappho

#37. Dancing up the full moon
Round some fair new altar
Trample the soft blossoms of fine grass.

Sappho

#38. Eros, again now, the loosener of limbs troubles me,
Bittersweet, sly, uncontrollable creature ... .

Sappho

#39. When I look on you a moment, then I can speak no more, but my tongue falls silent, and at once a delicate flame courses beneath my skin, and with my eyes I see nothing, and my ears hum, and a wet sweat bathes me and a trembling seizes me all over.

Sappho

#40. Beauty endures only for as long as it can be seen; goodness, beautiful today, will remain so tomorrow.

Sappho

#41. The gorgeous man presents a gorgeous view;
The good man will in time be gorgeous, too.

Sappho

#42. No honey for me, if it comes with a bee.

Sappho

#43. but if you love us
choose a younger bed
for I cannot bear
to live with you when I am the older one

Sappho

#44. The Moon and Pleiades have set, / Midnight is nigh, / The time is passing, passing, yet / Alone I lie.

Sappho

#45. Come to me now and loosen me
from blunt agony. Labor
and fill my heart with fire. Stand by me
and be my ally.

Sappho

#46. [I was dreaming of you but]
just then
Dawn, in her golden sandals
[woke me]

Sappho

#47. I have a daughter who reminds me of A marigold in bloom. Kle

Sappho

#48. Death is an ill; 'tis thus the Gods decide: / For had death been a boon, the Gods had died.

Sappho

#49. gathering flowers so very delicate a girl

Sappho

#50. For me, neither the honey nor the bee

Sappho

#51. To me the Muses truly gave / An envied and a happy lot: / E'en when I lie within the grave, / I cannot, shall not, be forgot.

Sappho

#52. And
Her soul! Her soul is consumed by this longing.

Sappho

#53. The moon has set In a bank of jet That fringes the Western sky, The pleiads seven Have sunk from heaven And the midnight hurries by; My hopes are flown And, alas! alone On my weary couch I lie.

Sappho

#54. The gleaming stars all about the shining moon
Hide their bright faces, when full-orbed and splendid
In the sky she floats, flooding the shadowed earth
with clear silver light.

Sappho

#55. Although only breath, words which I command are immortal.

Sappho

#56. neither for me honey nor the honey bee

Sappho

#57. Wealth without virtue is no harmless neighbor.

Sappho

#58. All the while, believe me, I prayed our night would last twice as long.

Sappho

#59. You will have memories
Because of what we did back then
When we were new at this,
Yes, we did many things, then - all
Beautiful ...

Sappho

#60. I would not think to touch the sky with two arms

Sappho

#61. The moon has set
And the Pleiades.
Midnight.
I lie in bed alone.

Sappho

#62. ...but I say whatever / one loves, is

Sappho

#63. The touched heart madly stirs,
your laughter is water hurrying over pebbles -
every gesture is a proclamation,
every sound is speech ...

Sappho

#64. Would Jove appoint some flower to reign, in matchless beauty on the plain, the Rose (mankind will all agree). The Rose the queen of flowers should be.

Sappho

#65. Stars veil their beauty soon / Beside the glorious moon, / When her full silver light / Doth make the whole earth bright.

Sappho

#66. Without warning as a whirlwind swoops on an oak Love shakes my heart

Sappho

#67. Experience shows us Wealth unchaperoned by Virtue is never an innocuous neighbor.

Sappho

#68. Whatever one loves most is beautiful.

Sappho

#69. For some the fairest thing on the dark earth is Thermopylae,
And the Spartan phalanx lowering lances to die.

Sappho

#70. May you sleep on the breast of your delicate friend

Sappho

#71. ]
]you will remember
]for we in our youth
did these things

yes many and beautiful things
]
]
]

Sappho

#72. May I write words more naked than flesh,
stronger than bone, more resilient than
sinew, sensitive than nerve.

Sappho

#73. Gracious your form and your eyes as honey : desire is poured upon your lovely face Aphrodite has honored you exceedingly ...

Sappho

#74. Eros once again limb-loosener whirls me sweetbitter, impossible to fight off, creature stealing up ... I don't know what I should do: two states of mind in me ...

Sappho

#75. Evening you gather back
all that dazzling dawn has put asunder:
you gather a lamb, gather a kid,
gather a child to its mother.

Sappho

#76. Hesperus bringing together All that the morning star scattered.

Sappho

#77. I took my lyre and said: come now, my heavenly tortoise shell: become a speaking instrument.

Sappho

#78. I declare
That later on,
Even in an age unlike our own,
Someone will remember who we are.

Sappho

#79. What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful.

Sappho

#80. When anger spreads through the breath, guard thy tongue from barking idly.

Sappho

#81. Now the Earth with many flowers puts on her spring embroidery

Sappho

#82. How love the limb-loosener sweeps me away

Sappho

#83. You may
blame Aphrodite
soft as she is
she has almost
killed me with
love for that boy

Sappho

#84. Love is a cunning weaver of fantasies and fables.

Sappho

#85. Death must be an evil and the gods agree; for why else would they live for ever?

Sappho

#86. Some say an army of horsemen, or infantry,
A fleet of ships is the fairest thing
On the face of the black earth, but I say
It's what one loves.

Sappho

#87. Death is an evil; the gods have so judged; had it been good, they would die.

Sappho

#88. You came and I was longing for you.
You cooled a heart that burned with desire.

Sappho

#89. Someone, I tell you, in another time will remember us.

Sappho

#90. Love shook my heart
Like the wind on the mountain
rushing over the oak trees.

Sappho

#91. I will let my body flow like water over the gentle cushions.

Sappho

#92. If you are squeamish
Don't prod the
beach rubble.

Sappho

#93. Once again love drives me on, that loosener of limbs, bittersweet creature against which nothing can be done.

Sappho

#94. I know not what to do, my mind is divided

Sappho

#95. Yet if you had a desire for good or beautiful things
and your tongue were not concocting some evil to say
shame would not hold down your eyes
but rather you would speak about what is just

Sappho

#96. Builders, raise the ceiling high, Raise the dome into the sky, Hear the wedding song! For the happy groom is near, Tall as Mars, and statelier, Hear the wedding song!

Sappho

#97. Come to me once more, and abate my torment;
Take the bitter care from my mind, and give me
All I long for; Lady, in all my battles
Fight as my comrade.

Sappho

#98. Stand to face me beloved
And open out the grace of your eyes

Sappho

#99. The dice of love are shouting and madness.

Sappho