Odin (from Hávamál)

Odin (Norse god)

"The stupid man stays awake all night
and worries about everything;
he's tired out when the morning comes
and all's just as bad as it was."

• This quote comes from stanza 23 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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Egil Skallagrimsson

Egil Skallagrimsson (10th century)

"I have wielded a blood-stained sword
and howling spear; the bird
of carrion followed me
when the Vikings pressed forth;
In fury we fought battles,
fire swept through men's homes,
we made bloody bodies
slump dead by city gates."

• Egil's Saga (chapter 48, poem 14), recorded c. 13th century possibly by Snorri Sturluson, translated by Bernard Scudder. New York: Penguin Classics, 2004 edition. 

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Onund Treefoot (Grettir's Saga)

Onund Tree-Foot (semi-mythical Norwegian Viking and Icelandic settler said to live in the 9th century)

"Many would-be warriors
mouth off but fail to think.
Your type sadly lacks practice
in fighting it out to the end."

• Spoken by the character, Onund Tree-Foot, in the anonymously written Grettir's Saga (c. 14th century), translated by Jesse Byock (Oxford World's Classics, 2009).

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Egil Skallagrimsson

Egil Skallagrimsson (10th-century Viking poet)

"West over water I fared,
bearing poetry's waves to the shore
of the war-god's heart;
my course was set.
I launched my oaken craft
at the breaking of ice,
loaded my cargo of praie
aboard my ship aft."

• 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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Egil Skallagrimsson

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

"King, bear in mind
how my ode is wrought,
I take delight
in the hearing I gained.
Through my lips I stirred
from the depths of my heart
Odin's sea of verse
about the craftsman of war."

• 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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Egil Skallagrimsson

Egil Skallagrimsson (10th Century)

"I awoke early
to heap my words;
as a servant of speech
I did my morning's work.
I have piled a mound
of praise that long
will stand without crumbling
in poetry's field."

• 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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Egil Skallagrimsson

Egil Skallagrimsson (10th century Viking poet)

"It is rare to find
one to trust
amongst men who dwell
beneath Odin's gallows,
for the dark-minded
destroyer of kin
swaps his brother's
death for treasure."

• 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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Egil Skallagrimsson

Egil Skallagrimsson (10th century Viking poet)

"Their numbers are dwindling, the famous
warriors who met with weapons
and spread gifts like the gold of day.
Where will I find generous men,
who beyond the sea that, nailed with islands,
girds the earth, showered snows of silver
on to my hands where hawks perch,
in return for my words of praise?"

• 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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Egil Skallagrimsson

Egil Skallagrimsson (10th century Viking-poet)

"Time seems long in passing
as I lie alone,
a senile old man
on the downy bed.
My legs are two
frigid widows,
those women
need some flame."

• 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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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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Egil Skallagrimsson

Egil Skallagrimsson (10th century semi-mythical Viking-poet)

"Let us make our drawn swords glitter,
you who stain wolf's teeth with blood;
now that the fish of the valleys thrive,
let us perform brave deeds."

• 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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