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“Oh for shame, how the mortals put the blame upon us gods, for they say evils come from us, but it is they, rather, who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given.” (I.32–34)↗

“So the suitors talked, but now resourceful Odysseus, once he had taken up the great bow and looked it all over, as when a man, who well understands the lyre and singing, easily, holding it on either side, pulls the strongly twisted cord of sheep’s gut, so as to slip it over a new peg, so, without any strain, Odysseus strung the great bow. Then plucking it in his right hand he tested the bowstring, and it gave him back an excellent sound like the voice of a swallow. A great sorrow fell now upon the suitors, and all their color was changed.” (XXI.404–12)↗

“But the spirit deep in the heart of Odysseus was stirred by this, and much he pondered in the division of mind and spirit, whether to spring on them and kill each one, or rather to let them lie this one more time with the insolent suitors, for the last and latest time; but the heart was growling within him.” (XX.9–13)↗

“He struck himself on the chest and spoke to his heart and scolded it: ‘Bear up, my heart. You have had worse to endure before this on that day when the irresistible Cyclops ate up my strong companions, but you endured it until intelligence got you out of the cave, though you expected to perish.’ So he spoke, addressing his own dear heart within him; and the heart in great obedience endured and stood it without complaint, but the man himself was twisting and turning.” (XX.17–24)↗

“So they spoke, but could not persuade the great heart in me, but once again in the anger of my heart I cried to him: ‘Cyclops, if any mortal man ever asks you who it was that inflicted upon your eye this shameful blinding, tell him that you were blinded by Odysseus, sacker of cities. Laertes is his father, and he makes his home in Ithaka.’” (IX.500–505)↗

“So I spoke, but he then called to the lord Poseidon in prayer, reaching both arms up toward the starry heaven: ‘Hear me, Poseidon who circle the earth, dark-haired. If truly I am your son, and you acknowledge yourself as my father, grant that Odysseus, sacker of cities, son of Laertes, who makes his home in Ithaka, may never reach that home; but if it is decided that he shall see his own people, and come home to his strong-founded house and to his own country, let him come late, in bad case, with the loss of all his companions, in someone else’s ship, and find troubles in his household.’” (IX.526–35)↗

“‘And now I entreat you in the name of your father; for I do not think I have really come into sunny Ithaka, but have been driven off course to another country, and I think you are teasing me when you tell me I am, and saying it to beguile me; tell me if it is true that I have come back to my own dear country.’ Then in turn the goddess gray-eyed Athene answered him: ‘Always you are the same, and such is the mind within you, and so I cannot abandon you when you are unhappy, because you are fluent, and reason closely, and keep your head always.’” (XIII.324–32)↗

“He knew how to say many false things that were like true sayings.” (XIX.203)↗

“But Odysseus in his heart had pity for his wife as she mourned him, but his eyes stayed, as if they were made of horn or iron, steady under his lids. He hid his tears and deceived her.” (XIX.209–12)↗

“‘Come this way, honored Odysseus, great glory of the Achaians, and stay your ship, so that you can listen here to our singing; for no one else has ever sailed past this place in his black ship until he has listened to the honey-sweet voice that issues from our lips; then goes on, well pleased, knowing more than ever he did; for we know everything that the Argives and Trojans did and suffered in wide Troy through the gods’ despite. Over all the generous earth we know everything that happens.’

“So they sang, in sweet utterance, and the heart within me desired to listen, and I signaled my companions to set me free, nodding with my brows, but they leaned on and rowed hard, and Perimedes and Eurylochos, rising up, straightway fastened me with even more lashings and squeezed me tighter.” (XII.184–96)↗

“He sang then how the sons of the Achaians left their hollow hiding place and streamed from the horse and sacked the city, and he sang how one and another fought through the steep citadel, and how in particular Odysseus went, with godlike Menelaos, like Ares, to find the house of Deïphobos, and there, he said, he endured the grimmest fighting that ever he had, but won it there too, with great-hearted Athene aiding.

“So the famous singer sang his tale, but Odysseus melted, and from under his eyes the tears ran down, drenching his cheeks. As a woman weeps, lying over the body of her dear husband, who fell fighting for her city and people as he tried to beat off the pitiless day from city and children; she sees him dying and gasping for breath, and winding her body about him she cries high and shrill, while the men behind her, hitting her with their spear butts on the back and the shoulders, force her up and lead her away into slavery, to have hard work and sorrow, and her cheeks are wracked with pitiful weeping. Such were the pitiful tears Odysseus shed from under his brows.” (VIII.514–31)↗

“From Ilion the wind took me and drove me ashore at Ismaros by the Kikonians. I sacked their city and killed their people, and out of their city taking their wives and many possessions we shared them out, so none might go cheated of his proper portion.” (IX.39–42)↗

“On the fifth day we reached the abundant stream Aigyptos, and I stayed my oarswept ships inside the Aigyptos River. Then I urged my eager companions to stay where they were, there close to the fleet, and to guard the ships, and was urgent with them to send look-outs to the watching places; but they, following their own impulse, and giving way to marauding violence, suddenly began plundering the Egyptians’ beautiful fields, and carried off the women and innocent children, and killed the men, and soon the outcry came to the city.” (XIV.257–65)↗

“Now the thoughtful Telemachos began speaking among them: ‘I would not take away the lives of these creatures by any clean death, for they have showered abuse on the head of my mother, and on my own head too, and they have slept with the suitors.’ So he spoke, and taking the cable of a dark-prowed ship, fastened it to the tall pillar, and fetched it about the round-house; and like thrushes, who spread their wings, or pigeons, who have flown into a snare set up for them in a thicket, trying to find a resting place, but the sleep given them was hateful; so their heads were all in a line, and each had her neck caught fast in a noose, so that their death would be most pitiful. They struggled with their feet for a little, not for very long.” (XXII.461–72)↗

“Circumspect Penelope said to him in answer: ‘You are so strange. I am not being proud, nor indifferent, nor puzzled beyond need, but I know very well what you looked like when you went in the ship with the sweeping oars, from Ithaka. Come then, Eurykleia, and make up a firm bed for him outside the well-fashioned chamber: that very bed that he himself built. Put the firm bed here outside for him, and cover it over with fleeces and blankets, and with shining coverlets.’ So she spoke to her husband, trying him out, but Odysseus spoke in anger to his virtuous-minded lady: ‘What you have said, dear lady, has hurt my heart deeply. What man has put my bed in another place?’” (XXIII.173–84)↗

“So he spoke, and her knees and the heart within her went slack as she recognized the clear proofs that Odysseus had given; but then she burst into tears and ran straight to him, throwing her arms around the neck of Odysseus, and kissed his head, saying: ‘Do not be angry with me, Odysseus, since, beyond other men, you have the most understanding.’” (XXIII.205–10)↗