The Poetic Edda Quotes

“Men brave and generous live the best lives, seldom will they sorrow; then there are fools, afraid of everything, who grumble instead of giving.”
― Anonymous, The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

“When a real battle starts, you’ll always find that there is no bravest man.”
― Jackson Crawford, The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

“It’s a long and crooked walk to a bad friend, even if he lives nearby. But it’s an easy road to a good friend, no matter how long the journey.”
― Jackson Crawford, The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

“That is the true mingling of kinship when a man can tell   someone all his thoughts;   anything is better than to be fickle;   he is no true friend who only says pleasant things.”
― Anonymous, The Poetic Edda

“Tell your secret to one person, never to two— everyone knows, if three people know.”
― Jackson Crawford, The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

“It is like a man | whom no one loves,-- Why should his life be long?”
― Anonymous, The Poetic Edda

“And I said to him that I had made a vow in my turn, that I would never marry a man who knew the meaning of fear.”
― Anonymous, The Poetic Edda

“But she awoke to the cold death of her hopes,”
― Jackson Crawford, The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

“Men become friends when they can share their minds with one another. Anything is better than being lied to: a real friend will disagree with you openly.”
― Jackson Crawford, The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

“Fire is best for mortals, and sunshine— and also good health, if you have it, and living beyond reproach.”
― Jackson Crawford, The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

“Exchange of words | with a witless ape Thou must not ever make.”
― Anonymous, The Poetic Edda

“The giantess old in Ironwood sat, In the east, and bore the brood of Fenrir; Among these one in monster's guise Was soon to steal the sun from the sky.”
― Anonymous, The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

“Obłęd i szał, rozczarowanie i żal,
Siądź tu, a opowiem tobie
o męce tęsknoty
I zdwojonym bólu.”
― Snorri Sturluson, The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

“Wolf-time, wind-time, axe-time, sword-time, shields-high-time,”
― Anonymous, The Poetic Edda

“A brand from a brand | is kindled and burned, And fire from fire begotten; And man by his speech | is known to men, And the stupid by their stillness.”
― Anonymous, The Poetic Edda

“I bid thee be wary, | but be not fearful; (Beware most with ale or another's wife,”
― Anonymous, The Poetic Edda

“It is probable, as Anthony Faulkes suggests, that the pagan religion was never systematically understood by those who practiced it. Different areas of Scandinavia worshipped different gods at different times in the pre-Christian era; the localized nature of cults and rituals produced neither dogma nor sacred texts, as far as we know. Rather pre-Christian religion was 'a disorganized body of conflicting traditions that was probably never reduced in heathen times to a consistent orthodoxy such as Snorri attempts to present'.”
― Carolyne Larrington, The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

“What hast thou to ask? | why comest thou hither? Othin, I know | where thine eye is hidden.”
― Anonymous, The Poetic Edda

“Wiem, gdzie jesion stoi, Yggdrasill się zowie,
Lśniącą wilgotnością pień jego zroszony;
Z niego idzie rosa, co w dolinach spada,
Koło Urs studni wciąż zielony stoi.”
― Snorri Sturluson, The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

“The Lokasenna (Loki's taunts):
Njorth, you were sent from the west
as a hostage for the gods.
The daughters of Hymir
used your mouth as a urinal,
and you’ve tasted plenty of piss.
...
Freyja, you are a witch,
and have dealt out many curses.
I hear the gods found you
lying with your brother,
and that you farted then.
...
“Tyr,
or don’t you know your own wife
had a son by me?
You poor fool,
I’ll never pay you a penny
in compensation for that.
...
“Sif, I alone know
how you were unfaithful
to your husband Thor—
and I was the one you slept with.
...
And you, Odin, you always judge battles
unfairly for humans.
You have often given
defeat to the better side,
when you shouldn’t have.

And Odin said:
“Even if I did judge unfairly,
and made the better side lose,
I know that you,
for eight years,
lived on the earth down below
as a cow in milk, and as a woman,
and you’ve given birth to children—
I call that a pervert’s way of living!”
― Jackson Crawford, The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

“Kostir ro betri
heldr en at klökkva sé,
hveim er fúss er fara;
einu dægri
mér var aldr of skapaðr
of allt líf of lagit.”
― Anonymous, The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

“They came to the treasure chest,
they asked for the keys.
They realized Volund’s skill
when they peered inside.
The boys saw
many ornaments,
all of them made
of gold and gems.

Volund said, “Come back alone,
just you two, the day after tomorrow.
I will give all this
gold to you if you do.
Don’t tell the ladies,
don’t tell the men—
don’t tell anyone at all
that you’re meeting with me.

Early on the appointed day,
one boy said to the other:
“Let’s go see the rings.”
So the two boys came
and asked for the keys.
They realized Volund’s skill
when they peered inside.

He cut off the heads
of those young boys,
he hid their bodies
under his bellows.
But he took their skulls
and scalped them,
set them with silver,
and sent them as cups to Nithuth.

And from the eyes
of those young boys
he made jewels for
their mother.”
― Jackson Crawford, The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

“Loki hid in the Falls of Frananger in the shape of a salmon, but the gods caught him. He was tied up with the intestines of his son Nari... Skathi took a poisonous snake and tied it up over Loki; poison dripped on his face from its mouth... this hurt him so badly that he trembled, and all the world with him. This is what is called an earthquake.”
― Jackson Crawford, The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

“Don’t praise the day until it’s night,
don’t praise your wife until she’s buried,
don’t praise the sword till after the fight,
nor your daughter till she’s married,
don’t praise the ice until it’s crossed,
nor the ale until you’re sloshed.”
― Jackson Crawford, The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

“An unwise man lies awake all night, brooding on everything; he’s quite worn out, when morning comes, and it’s all just as bad as before.”
― Unknown, The Elder Edda

“I expect a wolf when I see his ears.”
― Carolyne Larrington, The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes