Of all the creatures that breathe and move across the earth, there is nothing feebler than man.

οὐδὲν ἀκιδνότερον γαῖα τρέφει ἀνθρώποιο,
πάντων ὅσσα τε γαῖαν ἔπι πνείει τε καὶ ἕρπει.

Homer

The Odyssey

Buy The Odyssey at Amazon Buy The Odyssey at Amazon

Read The Odyssey at MIT's classics department website

More information about this quote

Topic

Author

Source

Medium

Genre

Language

Time

Era

Occupation

From

Authentication Score 2

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Original Citation

Homer. Ὀδύσσεια [Odyssey]. c. 710 BC, bk. 18, l. 130.

Original citation text copied to clipboard.

Current Citation

Homer. The Odyssey, edited by Bernard Knox, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2006, bk. 18, l. 130.

Current citation text copied to clipboard.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Homer about human frailty: “Of all the creatures that breathe and move across the earth, there is nothing…”

Download

Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote by Homer

We are quick to flare up, we races of men on the earth.

Homer

The Odyssey

Buy The Odyssey at Amazon Buy The Odyssey at Amazon

Read The Odyssey at MIT's classics department website

More information about this quote

Topic

Author

Source

Medium

Genre

Language

Time

Era

Authentication Score 2

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Original Citation

Homer. Ὀδύσσεια [Odyssey]. c. 710 BC, bk. 7, l. 307.

Original citation text copied to clipboard.

Current Citation

Homer. The Odyssey, edited by Bernard Knox, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2006, bk. 7, l. 307.

Current citation text copied to clipboard.

Another quote about Nature of man

Man is the measure of all things.

Protagoras

There are no other quotes by this person in the Bon Mots database.

Quoted in Theaetetus, by Plato

Buy Theaetetus at Amazon Buy Theaetetus at Amazon

Read Theaetetus at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Speaker

Author

Source

Medium

Genre

Language

Time

Era

Authentication Score 2

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Original Citation

Plato. Θεαίτητος [Theatetus]. c. 400 BC.

Original citation text copied to clipboard.

Current Citation

Plato. Theatetus, translated by John McDowell. Oxford University Press, 2014.

Current citation text copied to clipboard.

Another quote from the 8th century BC

Between us and excellence, the gods have placed the sweat of our brows.

Hesiod

Works and Days

Buy Works and Days at Amazon Buy Works and Days at Amazon

Read Works and Days at Harvard's classics page

More information about this quote

Topic

Author

Source

Medium

Genre

Language

Time

Era

Authentication Score 1

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Original Citation

Hesiod. Ἔργα καὶ Ἡμέραι [Works and Days]. c. 700 BC, l. 289.

Original citation text copied to clipboard.

Current Citation

Hesiod. "Works and Days." Theogony and Works and Days, translated by M. L. West. Oxford University Press, 2009, l. 289.

Current citation text copied to clipboard.

Another quote from Classical antiquity

I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.

Caesar Augustus

There are no other quotes by this person in the Bon Mots database.

Quoted in Lives of the Caesars, by Suetonius

Buy The Lives of the Caesars at Amazon Buy The Lives of the Caesars at Amazon

Read The Life of Caesar Augustus at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Speaker

Author

Source

Medium

Genre

Statement Type

Language

Time

Era

Authentication Score 2

More information on Authentication Score coming soon.

Original Citation

Augustus, Caesar. Quoted in De vita Caesarum [About the Life of the Caesars], written by Suetonius. c. 121.

Original citation text copied to clipboard.

Current Citation

Augustus, Caesar. Quoted in The Lives of the Caesars, written by Suetonius, translated by Catharine Edwards. Oxford University Press, 2009.

Current citation text copied to clipboard.

Another quote originally in Greek

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.