Odes Quotes

“She gave thee beauty—blush of fire,
That bids the flames of war retire!
Woman! be fair, we must adore thee;
Smile, and a world is weak before thee!”
― Anacreon - 485 BC

“Omitte mirari beatæ Fumum et opes strepitumque Romæ. ("Cease to admire the smoke, wealth, and noise of prosperous Rome.")”
― Horace, The Odes of Horace

“Chasing dragonflies, like buying good books or eating gourmet food, can be curiously addicting.”
― Cindy Crosby, Chasing Dragonflies: A Natural, Cultural, and Personal History

“I am convinced that there is no host in the world today who is both knowledgeable about fine things and more sovereign in power, whom we shall adorn with the glorious folds of song.”
― Pindar, The Olympian and Pythian Odes of Pindar

“What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind..."
from "Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood”
― William Wordsworth, Ode : Intimations of immortality from recollections of early childhood, by William Wordsworth. 1884 [Leather Bound]

“This is not how I meant to begin. I meant to give you wine and fruit and cheese. I meant to tell you how your hair is as beautiful as curling woodsmoke, your eyes the exact colour of walnuts. I thought I could compose an ode about it, but I am not very good at odes.'

I laugh, and he covers his heart as though stung by cruelty”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

“Ode I.11

Leucon, no one's allowed to know his fate,
Not you, not me: don't ask, don't hunt for answers
In tea leaves or palms. Be patient with whatever comes.
This could be our last winter, it could be many
More, pounding the Tuscan Sea on these rocks:
Do what you must, be wise, cut your vines
And forget about hope. Time goes running, even
As we talk. Take the present, the future's no one's affair”
― Burton Raffel, The Essential Horace Odes, Epodes, Satires and Epistles