Sappho Quotes & Sayings

How love the limb-loosener sweeps me away — Sappho

Although only breath, words which I command are immortal. — Sappho

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

]sing to us
the one with violets in her lap
]mostly
]goes astray — Sappho

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

for you beautiful ones my thought
is not changeable — Sappho

Girls, be good to these spirits of music and poetry
that breast your threshold with their scented gifts.
Lift the lyre, clear and sweet, they leave with you.
As for me, this body is now so arthritic
I cannot play, hardly even hold the instrument.
Can you believe my white hair was once black?
And oh, the soul grows heavy with the body.
Complaining knee-joints creak at every move.
To think I danced as delicate as a deer!
Some gloomy poems came from these thoughts:
useless: we are all born to lose life,
and what is worse, girls, to lose youth.
The legend of the goddess of the dawn
I'm sure you know: how rosy Eos
madly in love with gorgeous young Tithonus
swept him like booty to her hiding-place
but then forgot he would grow old and grey
while she in despair pursued her immortal way. — Sappho

What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful. — Sappho

If you are squeamish
Don't prod the
beach rubble. — Sappho

When anger spreads through the breath, guard thy tongue from barking idly. — Sappho

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

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

Eros harrows my heart: wild gales sweeping desolate mountains, uprooting oaks. — Sappho

In the crooks of your body, I find my religon. — Sappho

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

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

We shall enjoy it
As for him who finds
fault, may silliness
and sorrow take him! — Sappho

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

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

You came and I was crazy for you
and you cooled my mind that burned with longing — Sappho

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

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

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

What cannot be said will be wept. — Sappho

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

The dice of love are shouting and madness. — Sappho

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

Then you my goddess with your immortal lips smiling
Would ask what now afflicts me, why again
I am calling and what now I with my restive heart
Desired:
Whom now shall I beguile
To bring you to her love?
Who now injures you, Sappho?
For if she flees, soon shall she chase
And, rejecting gifts, soon shall she give.
If she does not love you, she shall do so soon
Whatsoever is her will.
Come to me now to end this consuming pain
Bringing what my heart desires to be brought:
Be yourself my ally in this fight. — Sappho

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

You may forget but
let me tell you
this: someone in
some future time
will think of us — Sappho

Love shook my heart like a wind falling on oaks
on a mountain. — Sappho

With his venom irresistible and bittersweet that loosener of limbs, Love reptile-like strikes me down — Sappho

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

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

Because I prayed
this word:
I want — Sappho

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

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

[I was dreaming of you but]
just then
Dawn, in her golden sandals
[woke me] — Sappho

[You for] the fragrant-blossomed Muses' lovely gifts
[be zealous,] girls, [and the] clear melodious lyre:
[but my once tender] body old age now
[has seized;] my hair's turned [white] instead of dark;
my heart's grown heavy, my knees will not support me,
that once on a time were fleet for the dance as fawns.
This state I oft bemoan; but what's to do?
Not to grow old, being human, there's no way.
Tithonus once, the tale was, rose-armed Dawn,
love-smitten, carried off to the world's end,
handsome and young then, yet in time grey age
o'ertook him, husband of immortal wife. — Sappho

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

The gorgeous man presents a gorgeous view;
The good man will in time be gorgeous, too. — Sappho

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

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

Now the Earth with many flowers puts on her spring embroidery — Sappho

There is no place for grief in a house which serves the Muse. — Sappho

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

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

The evening star Is the most beautiful of all stars — Sappho

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

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

gathering flowers so very delicate a girl — Sappho

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

Mere air, these words, but delicious to hear. — Sappho

Honestly, I wish I were dead.
Weeping many tears, she left me and said,
"Alas, how terribly we suffer, Sappho.
I really leave you against my will."
And I answered: "Farewell, go and remember me.
You know how we cared for you.
If not, I would remind you
... of our wonderful times.
For by my side you put on
many wreaths of roses
and garlands of flowers
around your soft neck.
And with precious and royal perfume
you anointed yourself.
On soft beds you satisfied your passion.
And there was no dance,
no holy place
from which we were absent. — Sappho

I would not think to touch the sky with two arms — Sappho

Blest as the immortal gods is he,
The youth who fondly sits by thee,
And hears and sees thee, all the while,
Softly speaks and sweetly smile.
'Twas this deprived my soul of rest,
And raised such tumults in my breast;
For, while I gazed, in transport tossed,
My breath was gone, my voice was lost;
My bosom glowed; the subtle flame
Ran quick through all my vital frame;
O'er my dim eyes a darkness hung;
My ears with hollow murmurs rung;
In dewy damps my limbs were chilled;
My blood with gentle horrors thrilled:
My feeble pulse forgot to play;
I fainted, sunk, and died away. — Sappho

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

Live for the gifts the fragrant-breasted Muses
send, for the clear, the singing, lyre, my children.
Old age freezes my body, once so lithe,
rinses the darkness from my hair, now white.
My heart's heavy, my knees no longer keep me
up through the dance they used to prance like fawns in.
Oh, I grumble about it, but for what?
Nothing can stop a person's growing old.
They say that Tithonus was swept away
in Dawn's passionate, rose-flushed arms to live
forever, but he lost his looks, his youth,
failing husband of an immortal bride. — Sappho

Whatever one loves most is beautiful. — Sappho

May you sleep on the breast of your delicate friend — Sappho

In gold sandals / dawn like a thief / fell upon me. — Sappho

Stand and face me, my love,
and scatter the grace in your eyes.
— Sappho

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

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

I have not had one word from her
Frankly I wish I were dead
When she left, she wept
a great deal; she said to me, "This parting must be
endured, Sappho. I go unwillingly."
I said, "Go, and be happy
but remember (you know
well) whom you leave shackled by love
"If you forget me, think
of our gifts to Aphrodite
and all the loveliness that we shared
"all the violet tiaras,
braided rosebuds, dill and
crocus twined around your young neck
"myrrh poured on your head
and on soft mats girls with
all that they most wished for beside them
"while no voices chanted
choruses without ours,
no woodlot bloomed in spring without song ... — Sappho

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

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

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

Love is a cunning weaver of fantasies and fables. — Sappho

Their heart grew cold
they let their wings down — Sappho

Eros the melter of limbs (now again) stirs me -
sweetbitter unmanageable creature who steals in — Sappho

I will let my body flow like water over the gentle cushions. — Sappho

For me, neither the honey nor the bee — Sappho

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

Although only breath, words which I speak are immortal. — Sappho

Death must be an evil and the gods agree; for why else would they live for ever? — Sappho

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

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

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

I know not what to do, my mind is divided — Sappho

Wealth without virtue is no harmless neighbor. — Sappho

...but I say whatever / one loves, is — Sappho

]Sardis
often turning her thoughts here
]
you like a goddess
and in your song most of all she rejoiced.
But now she is conspicuous among Lydian women
as sometimes at sunset
the rosyfingered moon
surpasses all the stars. And her light
stretches over salt sea
equally and flowerdeep fields.
And the beautiful dew is poured out
and roses bloom and frail
chervil and flowering sweetclover.
But she goes back and forth remembering
gentle Atthis and in longing
she bites her tender mind — Sappho

Love - bittersweet, irrepressible - loosens my limbs and I tremble. — Sappho

I have a daughter who reminds me of A marigold in bloom. Kle — Sappho

Someone, I tell you, in another time will remember us. — Sappho

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

I do not know what to do, my mind's in two. — Sappho

Someone will remember us
I say
even in another time — Sappho

Experience shows us Wealth unchaperoned by Virtue is never an innocuous neighbor. — Sappho

You may
blame Aphrodite
soft as she is
she has almost
killed me with
love for that boy — Sappho

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

And a sweet expression spreads over her fair face. — Sappho

What creature is it that is
female in nature and hides
in its womb unborn children
who, although they are voiceless,
speak to people far away?
The female creature is a letter.
The unborn children are the letters
(of the alphabet) it carries. And the
letters, although they have no voices,
speak to people far away. — Sappho

No honey for me, if it comes with a bee. — Sappho

And
Her soul! Her soul is consumed by this longing. — Sappho

Love shook my heart
Like the wind on the mountain
rushing over the oak trees. — Sappho

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

yes many and beautiful things
]
]
] — Sappho

Without warning as a whirlwind swoops on an oak Love shakes my heart — Sappho