Odin (from Hávamál)

Odin (Norse god featured in the poem, Hávamál)

“He should get up early, the man who has few workers,
and set about his work with thought;
much gets held up for the man sleeping in the morning;
wealth is half-won by activity.”

• This quote comes from stanza 59 of Hávamál (Sayings of the High One), an old poem which was preserved in the 13th-century Poetic Edda which was produced anonymously in Iceland. The translation is by Carolyne Larrington (Oxford University Press, 2014).

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Odin (from Hávamál)

Odin (Norse god)

"Seldom does the loafing wolf snatch the ham,
nor a sleeping man victory."

• This quote comes from stanza 58 of Hávamál (Sayings of the High One), an old poem which was preserved in the 13th-century Poetic Edda which was produced anonymously in Iceland. The translation is by Carolyne Larrington (Oxford University Press, 2014).

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Homer

Homer (flourished c. 700 BCE)

"You have no need to be so stubborn. Even the gods themselves, for all their greater majesty, honor and power, are capable of being swayed."

• From The Iliad (Book 9, approx. line 500) by Homer, translated by E. V. Rieu and revised by Peter Jones (Penguin Classics, 2014).

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Brynhild (Saga of the Volsungs)

Brynhild
(Valkyrie from The Saga of the Volgungs, written anonymously in the 13th century)

"Although caught by nightfall, do not take shelter near the road, for foul beings who bewilder men often live there."

• From The Saga of the Volsungs (chapter 22), by an anonymous 13th century Icelander, translated by Jesse L. Byock (Penguin Classics, 1990, 1999).

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Homer

Homer (flourished c. 700 BCE)

"Delusion, eldest daughter of Zeus who
blinds us all, damn her. She never touches the ground with those
soft feet of hers but flits over men's heads, corrupting them and
shackling one man after another."

• From The Iliad (Book 19) by Homer, translated by E. V. Rieu and revised by Peter Jones (Penguin Classics, 2014).

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Sigurd the Volsung/ Saga of the Volsungs

Sigurd the Volsung (Scandinavian-Germanic mythical hero)

"When men come to battle, a fearless heart serves a man better than a sharp sword."

• From The Saga of the Volsungs, by an anonymous 13th century Icelander, translated by Jesse L. Byock (Penguin Classics, 1990, 1999).

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Egil Skallagrimsson

Egil Skallagrimsson (10th century semi-mythical Viking-Poet from Iceland)

"With its chisel of snow, the headwind,
scourge of the mast, mightily
hones its file by the prow
on the path that my sea-bull treatds.
In gusts of wind, that chillful
destroyer of timber planes down
the planks before the head
of my sea-king's swan."

• Egil's Saga (recorded c. 13th century possibly by Snorri Sturluson), translated by Bernard Scudder. New York: Penguin Classics, 2004 edition.

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Snorri Sturluson / The Lay of Grimnir

Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241) quoting The Lay of Grimnir.

"The ash Yggdrasil
is foremost of trees,
and Skidladnir of ships,
Odin of the Æsir,
and of stallions, Sleipnir,
Bifrost of bridges,
and Bragi of skalds,
Habrok of hawks,
and of hounds, Garm."

• From The Lay of Grimnir in The Prose Edda (Gylfaginning) by Snorri Sturluson, translated by Jesse Byock (Penguin Classics, 2005). 

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Snorri Sturlusson / Sibyl Prophecy

"Brothers will fight,
bringing death to each other.
Sons of sisters
will split their kin bonds.
Hard times for men,
rampant depravity,
age of axes, age of swords,
shields split,
wind age, wolf age,
until the world falls into ruin."

• From The Sibyl's Prophecy in The Prose Edda (Gylfaginning) by Snorri Sturluson, translated by Jesse Byock (Penguin Classics, 2005).

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Apollonius of Rhodes

Apollonius of Rhodes (Greek/Egyptian Scholar and Poet, 3rd Century BCE)

"Our shameless actions drive us to still more shameless actions."

• From Apollonius of Rhodes' epic poem, Argonautica (Book 4), based on the myth of Jason and the Argonauts. The translation is by Aaron Poochigian (Penguin Classics, 2014). 

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Albert Camus

Albert Camus (1913-1960 CE)

"The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."

• From The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus, translated by Justin O'Brien (Random House, 1983).

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Snorri Sturluson

Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241 CE)

"These women are called valkyries. They are sent by Odin to every battle, where they choose which men are to die and they determine who has the victory."

• From The Prose Edda (Gylfaginning) by Snorri Sturluson, translated by Jesse Byock (Penguin Classics, 2005).

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Apollonius of Rhodes

Apollonius of Rhodes (Greek/Egyptian Scholar and Poet, 3rd Century BCE)

"Mortals can never sidestep fate; the cosmic
net is extended round us everywhere."

• From Apollonius of Rhodes' epic poem, Argonautica (Book I), based on the myth of Jason and the Argonauts. The translation is by Aaron Poochigian (Penguin Classics, 2014).

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The Malleus Maleficarum

The Malleus Maleficarum (Written by Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, c. 1487)

"Now there are two circumstances which are certainly very common at the present day, that is to say, the connexion of witches with familiars, Incubi and Succubi, and the horrible sacrifices of small children."

• From The Malleus Maleficarum by Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, translated by Montague Summers (Dover Publications, 1971).

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Odin From Hávamál and Snorri Sturluson

Odin from The Sayings of the High One (Hávamâl) and Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241 CE)

"All doorways
before entering
gave into caefully;
one never knows
where on the benches
enemies are sitting."

• Hávamál in The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson, translated by Jesse Byock (Penguin Classics, 2005).

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Apollonius of Rhodes

Apollonius of Rhodes (3rd century BCE)

"There are a thousand heartening words
a man can say to urge a comrade on,
but you have blurted out offensive ones."

• From Apollonius of Rhodes' epic poem, Argonautica (Book I), based on the myth of Jason and the Argonauts. The translation is by Aaron Poochigian (Penguin Classics, 2014).

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The Prophecies of Merlin (from Geoffrey of Monmouth)

Geoffrey of Monmouth (12th Century Welsh/English Writer)

"The Ass will put on a crown and then clamber above all that is most lofty and terrify the people with its hideous braying."

• From Part Five (The Prophecies of Merlin) of Geoffrey of Monmouth's The History of the Kings of Britain, completed in 1136 CE, translated from Latin into English by Lewis Thorpe (Penguin Classics, 1966).

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Snorri Sturluson

Snorri Sturluson (Icelandic chieftain and recorder of Norse mythology, 1179-1241 CE)

"Truly, I say, all you have been told is equally reliable, even though you have no way to test some things."

• From The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson, translated by Jesse Byock (Penguin Classics, 2005).

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Apollonius of Rhodes

Apollonius of Rhodes (3rd Century BCE Greek/Egyptian Scholar and Poet)

"The truth is, we
the members of the woe-struck tribes of mortals
never tread the pathways to delight
with confidence. Some bitter anguish always
shambles along beside our happiness."

• From Apollonius of Rhodes' epic poem, Argonautica, based on the myth of Jason and the Argonauts. The translation is by Aaron Poochigian (Penguin Classics, 2014).

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Snorri Sturluson

Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241 CE)

"The goddesses are no less sacred, nor are they less powerful."

• Spoken by Odin in The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson, translated by Jesse Byock (Penguin Classics, 2005).

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