Home > Author > Sappho
1 " yet if you had a desire for good or beautiful thingsand your tongue were not concocting some evil to sayshame would not hold down your eyesbut rather you would speak about what is just "
― Sappho , If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho
2 " their heart grew coldthey let their wings down "
3 " In fact she herself once blamed meKyprogeneiabecause I prayed this word:I want. "
4 " Eros, again now, the loosener of limbs troubles me,Bittersweet, sly, uncontrollable creature…. "
― Sappho
5 " ]Sardisoften turning her thoughts here]you like a goddessand in your song most of all she rejoiced.But now she is conspicuous among Lydian womenas sometimes at sunsetthe rosyfingered moonsurpasses all the stars. And her lightstretches over salt seaequally and flowerdeep fields.And the beautiful dew is poured outand roses bloom and frailchervil and flowering sweetclover.But she goes back and forth rememberinggentle Atthis and in longingshe bites her tender mind "
6 " ]sing to usthe one with violets in her lap]mostly]goes astray "
7 " ...gracious your form and your eyes as honey : desire is poured upon your lovely face Aphrodite has honored you exceedingly... "
8 " There is no place for grief in a house which serves the Muse. "
9 " Wealth without virtue is no harmless neighbor. "
― Sappho , A Garland: The Poems and Fragments of Sappho
10 " The touched heart madly stirs,your laughter is water hurrying over pebbles - every gesture is a proclamation,every sound is speech... "
11 " I declareThat later on,Even in an age unlike our own,Someone will remember who we are. "
― Sappho , Come Close
12 " Someone will remember us I sayEven in another time "
13 " The evening starIs the mostbeautifulof all stars "
― Sappho , Sappho
14 " We shall enjoy itAs for him who findsfault, may sillinessand sorrow take him! "
15 " I want to tell you something but good tasteRestrains me "
16 " Evening you gather backall that dazzling dawn has put asunder:you gather a lamb, gather a kid,gather a child to its mother. "
17 " Once again Love, that loosener of limbs,bittersweet and inescapable, crawling thing,seizes me. "
18 " What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful. "
19 " I emphasize the distinction between brackets and no brackets because it will affect your reading experience, if you will allow it. Brackets are exciting. Even though you are approaching Sappho in translation, that is no reason you should miss the drama of trying to read a papyrus torn in half or riddled with holes or smaller than a postage stamp--brackets imply a free space of imaginal adventure. "
20 " and on a soft beddelicateyou would let loose your longing "
