Kyriakoyla Manouselis > Kyriakoyla's Quotes

“Some men say an army of horse and some men say an arm on foot / and some men say an army of ships is the most beautiful thing / on the black earth. But I say it is / what you love.”
― Sappho fr. 16 Carson translation

“Some say an army of horsemen,
some of footsoldiers, some of ships,
is the fairest thing on the black earth,
but I say it is what one loves.

It's very easy to make this clear
to everyone, for Helen,
by far surpassing mortals in beauty,
left the best of all husbands

and sailed to Troy,
mindful of neither her child
nor her dear parents, but
with one glimpse she was seduced by

Aphrodite. For easily bent...
and nimbly...[missing text]...
has reminded me now
of Anactoria who is not here;

I would much prefer to see the lovely
way she walks and the radiant glance of her face
than the war-chariots of the Lydians or
their footsoldiers in arms.”
― Sappho

“And
Her soul! Her soul is consumed by this longing.”
― Sappho

“For the man who is beautiful is beautiful to see but the good man will at once also beautiful be”
― Sappho, If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho

“She who loves roses must be patient and not cry out when she is pierced by thorns.”
― Sappho

“Stand to face me beloved
And open out the grace of your eyes”
― Sappho

“The touched heart madly stirs,
your laughter is water hurrying over pebbles -
every gesture is a proclamation,
every sound is speech...”
― Sappho

“...but I say whatever / one loves, is”
― Sappho, Poems and Fragments

“The moon is set
and the Pleiades; Middle of
the night, time passes by,
I lie alone.”
― Sappho

“Eros harrows my heart:
wild gales sweeping desolate mountains,
uprooting oaks.”
― Sappho

“…You are, I think, an evening star,
of all the stars, the fairest…”
― Sappho, Fragments

“δέδυκε μὲν ἀ σελάννα
καὶ Πληΐαδες, μέσαι δὲ
νύκτες, παρὰ δ’ ἔρχετ’ ὤρα,
ἔγω δὲ μόνα κατεύδω.”
― Sappho

“someone will remember us
I say
even in another time”
― Sappho

“Some say thronging cavalry, some say foot soldiers, others call a fleet the most beautiful of sights the dark earth offers, but I say it's what- ever you love best.

. . . .

But that reminds me:

now my Anactória is gone,
and I'd rather see her lovely step, her sparkling glance and her face than gaze on all the troops in Lydia in their chariots and glittering armor.”
― Sappho, Poems

“I desire
And I crave.”
― Sappho, Fragments

“I am weary of all your words and soft, strange ways.”
― Sappho, Fragments

“Dawn with arms of roses”
― Sappho, Fragments

“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, Come Close

“but if you love us
choose a younger bed
for I cannot bear
to live with you when I am the older one”
― Sappho, If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho

“I can reveal to you that I wished to die -
For with much weeping she left me
Saying: "Sappho - what suffering is ours!
For it is against my will that I leave you."
In answer, I said: "Go, happily remembering me
For you know what we shared and pursued -
If not, I wish you to see again our [ former joys ] .....
The many braids of rose and violet you [ wreathed ]
Around yourself at my side
And the many garlands of flowers
With which you adorned your soft neck:
With royal oils from [ fresh flowers ]
You anointed [ yourself ]
And on soft beds fulfilled your longing
[ For me ] ....”
― Sappho

“I have a daughter who reminds me of A marigold in bloom. Kle”
― Sappho, Stung with Love: Poems and Fragments of Sappho

“frequently
for those
I treat well are the ones who most of all
harm me”
― Sappho, If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho

“Some call ships, infantry or horsemen
The greatest beauty earth can offer;
I say it is whatever a person
Most lusts after.

Showing you all will be no trouble:
Helen surpassed all humankind
In looks but left the world's most noble
Husband behind,

Coasting off to Troy where she
Thought nothing of her loving parents
And only child but, led astray...

... and I think of Anaktoria
Far away,...

And I would rather watch her body
Sway, her glistening face flash dalliance
Than Lydian war cars at the ready
And armed battalions.”
― Sappho, Stung with Love: Poems and Fragments

“But thou shalt ever lie dead nor shall there be any remembrance of thee then or ever, for thou hast none of the roses of Pieria; but thou shalt wander unnoticed, even in the houses of Hades, flitting among the shadowy dead.

Forever shalt thou lie dead, nor shall there be any remembrance of thee now or hereafter, for never has thou had any of the roses of Pieria; but thou shalt wander, eternally unregarded in the houses of Hades, flitting among the insubstantial shades.”
― Sappho

“Love shook my heart like a wind falling on oaks
on a mountain.”
― Sappho

“Like a gale smiting an oak
On mountainous terrain,
Eros, with a stroke,
Shattered my brain.”
― Sappho, Stung with Love: Poems and Fragments

“stars around the beautiful moon
hide back their luminous form
whenever all full she shines
on the earth

silvery”
― Sappho, If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho

“I don't know what to do
two states of mind in me”
― Sappho, If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho

“Wealth without real worthiness
Is no good for the neighbourhood;
But their proper mixture
Is the summit of beatitude.”
― Sappho, Stung with Love: Poems and Fragments

“Nightingale,
All you sing
Is desire;
You are the crier
Of coming spring”
― Sappho