The Odyssey Self-Control Quotes

With a dark glance
wily Odysseus shot back, "Indecent talk, my friend.
You, you’re a reckless fool – I see that. So,
the gods don’t hand out all their gifts at once,
not build and brains and flowing speech to all.
One man may fail to impress us with his looks
but a god can crown his words with beauty, charm,
and men look on with delight when he speaks out.
Never faltering, filled with winning self-control,
he shines forth at assembly grounds and people gaze
at him like a god when he walks through the streets.
Another man may look like a deathless one on high
but there’s not a bit of grace to crown his words.
Just like you, my fine, handsome friend. Not even
a god could improve those lovely looks of yours
but the mind inside is worthless."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 8, lines 190-205. Broadsea’s taunts about Odysseus’ lack of athleticism sparks Odysseus’ ire. The Greek hero’s pride is injured and he gives back as good as he gets. He talks about the power of intellect and eloquence, placing a high value on these. A man with unimpressive looks may be gifted with words, he tells the Phaeacian athlete. The same man can display charm and beauty and self-control, being seen by others as a god (simile), Odysseus says. He tells Broadsea distainfully that while his lovely looks could not be improved upon, his mind inside is worth nothing. When Odysseus remarks that the gods don’t hand out the gifts of build and brains and eloquence to everyone at once, his words are somewhat ironic. For he is one man who embodies all these gifts: he is highly intelligent, athletic, a proven warrior, an excellent leader and physically attractive.

"True enough,
Calypso the lustrous goddess tried to hold me back,
deep in her arching caverns, craving me for a husband.
So did Circe, holding me just as warmly in her halls,
the bewitching queen of Aeaea keen to have me too.
But they never won the heart inside me, never."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 9, lines 32-37. Odysseus tells Alcinous that beautiful goddesses like Calypso and Circe tried to seduce him to stay with them. But he didn’t succumb to their temptations, he reveals, because his heart always yearned for home and family.

"Cyclops –
if any man on the face of the earth should ask you
who blinded you, shamed you so – say Odysseus,
raider of cities, he gouged out your eye,
Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca!

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 9, lines 560-562. Having outsmarted Polyphemus, Odysseus is making his escape in the ship with his men while the giant Cyclops hurls boulders at them. But excessive pride gets the better of Odysseus and he cannot help but shout back his name to Polyphemus. This fatal lapse in self-control by Odysseus will lead to epic misfortunates for Odysseus and his crew. The Greek hero’s hubris is repaid by Polyphemus who calls on his father Poseidon to avenge him. From that day Odysseus has nothing but ill luck and goes on to lose all his men. It will be ten years before he alone makes it home to his family in Ithaca, because he hurt the son of Poseidon.

"So stubborn!" the lovely goddess countered.
"Hell-bent yet again on battle and feats of arms?
Can’t you bow to the deathless gods themselves?
Scylla’s no mortal, she’s an immortal devastation,
terrible, savage, wild, no fighting her, no defense –
just flee the creature, that’s the only way.
Waste any time, arming for battle beside her rock,
I fear she’ll lunge out again with all of her six heads
and seize as many men."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 12, lines 125-133. Odysseus believes that he will be able to fight Scylla off without suffering casualties among his men. But sorceress and goddess Circe angrily reminds him of the immortal Scylla’s devastating power. Circe understands Odysseus’ proud heart and urges him to rein in his instincts for battle. She tells him not to fight Scylla or arm for battle. But he should just flee this creature, otherwise she will seize as many men as she can, Circe warns.

Odysseus was torn…
should he wheel with his staff and beat the scoundrel senseless? –
or hoist him by the midriff, split his skull on the rocks?
He steeled himself instead, his mind in full control.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 17, lines 257-260. A furious Odysseus, disguised as a beggar and pretending not to be a king, wonders if should retaliate and split goatherd Melanthius’ skull over his taunts. When confronted by such disrespect, Odysseus’ instinct for vengeance kicks in. However, though his pride is wounded, he decides that self-restraint is the best course and doesn’t react to the goatherd’s provocations. Cunning Odysseus wants to maintain his disguise and keep his true identity from people.

Square in the back
it struck Odysseus, just under the right shoulder
but he stood up against it – steady as a rock,
unstaggered by Antinous’ blow – just shook his head,
silent, his mind churning with thoughts of bloody work.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 17, lines 510-514. Antinous hurls a stool at Odysseus and it strikes him in the back. Despite the pain and humiliation it must have caused, Odysseus chooses not to stand up for himself and fight back. Here he shows his maturity and self-restraint, but also his cunning. For maintaining his disguise as a weak beggar helps to lull the suitors into a false sense of security, making possible his eventual attack on them. In a metaphor Odysseus’ mind is compared to a "churning" cauldron bent on murder. A simile likens him to a rock in steadiness.

the seasoned fighter Odysseus deeply torn now…
should he knock him senseless, leave him dead where he dropped
or just stretch him out on the ground with a light jab?
As he mulled things over, that way seemed the best:
a glancing blow, the suitors would not detect him.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 18, lines 104-108. When the disguised beggar Odysseus fights Irus, another beggar, he is torn between whether he should take him out completely or just simply hurt him. He decides against going all out, which would reveal his identity. Instead he exercises restraint and knocks Irus down with a hook to the neck, so that the suitors will continue to be deceived into believing that he is a simple beggar.

So he forced his spirit into submission,
the rage in his breast reined back – unswerving,
all endurance. But he himself kept tossing, turning,
intent as a cook before some white-hot blazing fire
who rolls his sizzling sausage back and forth,
packed with fat and blood – keen to broil it quickly,
tossing, turning it, this way, that way – so he cast about:
how could he get these shameless suitors in his clutches,
one man facing a mob?

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 20, lines 25-33. Odysseus reins in his anger at the suitors and their lovers, the female servants, whom he can hear laughing as they leave the suitors’ beds at night. He postpones his revenge till the time is right. But he tosses and turns in his bed, his mind and emotions in torment as he plots his reveng. How one man can defeat the mob, he asks himself. An epic simile likens him to a cook turning a sizzling sausage that is broiling in a hot fire.

"The fame of her great virtue will never die.
The immortal gods will lift a song for all mankind,
a glorious song in praise of self-possessed Penelope."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 24, lines 216-218. Speaking about Penelope in the underworld, Agamemnon’s ghost has high praise for the faithfulness of the wife of Odysseus. This is after Agamemnon hears about Penelope’s resistence of the suitors and her cunning in frustrating them by weaving a shroud for Laertes and nightly unraveling it. To the loyal Penelope, who chose to wait twenty years for the return of Odysseus and could have taken up with a suitor, Homer attributes the highest honors. She is seen as embodying the ideal wife, the paragon of marital fidelity, a model of self-restraint. Penelope is one of the main heroes of Homer’s epic poem.
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