There is no greater fame for a man than that which he wins with his footwork or the skill of his hands.
If you are one of earth’s inhabitants, how blest your father, and your gentle mother, blest all your kin. I know what happiness must send the warm tears to their eyes, each time they see their wondrous child go to the dancing! But one man’s destiny is more than blest—he who prevails, and takes you as his bride. Never have I laid eyes on equal beauty in man or woman. I am hushed indeed.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote expresses profound admiration for beauty and the happiness it brings to family, as well as the joy and privilege of love.
In this quote, Homer reflects on the beauty of a beloved and the joy it brings not just to the person enamored but also to their family. He articulates how the sight of their 'wondrous child' dancing brings tears of happiness to the eyes of parents, highlighting the deep connection between love, familial pride, and the transcendent experience of marriage. The speaker emphasizes that finding such beauty is a rare and blessed occurrence, especially in the context of love and commitment.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a wedding speech to celebrate the couple's love and beauty.
More from Homer
All quotes →For Fate has wove the thread of life with pain,_x000D_ _x000D_ And twins ev'n from the birth are Misery and Man!
Be strong, saith my heart; I am a soldier; I have seen worse sights than this.
Sing, O muse, of the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans.
There is nothing nobler or more admirable than when two people who see eye to eye keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends.
[I]t is the wine that leads me on, the wild wine that sets the wisest man to sing at the top of his lungs, laugh like a fool – it drives the man to dancing... it even tempts him to blurt out stories better never told.
Similar quotes
I have for the first time found what I can truly love–I have found you. You are my sympathy–my better self–my good angel–I am bound to you with a strong attachment. I think you good, gifted, lovely: a fervent, a solemn passion is conceived in my heart; it leans to you, draws you to my centre and spring of life, wrap my existence about you–and, kindling in pure, powerful flame, fuses you and me in one.
I would rather live and love where death is king than have eternal life where love is not.
The thing about love is that we come alive in bodies not our own.
So I took her hand, and I don't know what everybody else heard, but to me it sounded like a slow dance: a little sad, but maybe a little hopeful, too.
Love makes all hard hearts gentle.
As for me, to love you alone, to make you happy, to do nothing which would contradict your wishes, this is my destiny and the meaning of my life.