Anonymous Quotes

“A warrior will sooner die than live a life of shame.”

“The Almighty Judge of good deeds and bad, the Lord God, Head of the Heavens and High King of the World, was unknown to them. Oh, cursed is he who in time of trouble had to thrust his soul into the fire’s embrace, forfeiting help; he has nowhere to turn. But blessed is he who after death can approach the Lord and find friendship in the Father’s embrace.”

“It is a great wonder how Almighty God in His magnificence favours our race with rank and scope and the gift of wisdom; His sway is wide. Sometimes he allows the mind of a man of distinguished birth to follow its bent, grants him fulfillment and felicity on earth and forts to command in his own country.”

“The monster wrenched and wrestled with him but Beowulf was mindful of his mighty strength, the wondrous gifts God had showered on him: He relied for help on the Lord of All, on His care and favour. So he overcame the foe, brought down the hell-brute. ”

“She’d brooded on her loss, misery had brewed in her heart, that female horror, Grendel’s Mother, living in the murky cold lake assigned her since Cain had killed his only brother, slain his father’s son with an angry sword.”

“He was spawned in that slime of Cain, murderous creatures banished by God.”

“Do not grieve, wise warrior! It is better for each man that he avenge his friend than to mourn him much. Each of us must accept the end of life here in this world—so we must work while we can to earn fame before death.”

“The swirling surf had covered his death, hidden deep in murky darkness his miserable end, as hell opened to receive him.”

“Not even the sharpest of swords could have cut it [Grendel’s hand] through, broken it off the monster’s arm and ended its life, as Beowulf had done armed only with his bare hands.”

“Wanting to stay, we go, all beings here on God’s earth, wherever it is written that we go, taking our bodies from death’s cold bed to unbroken sleep that follows life’s feast.”

“And if death does take me, send the hammered mail of my armor to Higlac, return the inheritance I had from Hrethel, and he from Wayland. Fate will unwind as it must!”

“No, we two in dark of night shall forego the sword, if he dares to seek war without weapon, and then may wise God, the holy Lord, judge which side will succeed, which one will win glory, as to him seems right.”

“In the time I was given I lived in my own land, ruling my people well, never turning to treachery, or swearing to oaths contrary to right. In this I take comfort and joy when now I am stricken with death-dealing wounds.”

“How many wars have been put to rest in a prince’s bed? Few. A bride can bring a little peace, make spears silent for a time, but not long.”

“His vanity swelled him so vile and rank that he could hear no voices but his own. He deserved to suffer and die. But Beowulf was a prince well-loved, followed in friendship, not fear.”

“Let whoever can win glory before death. When a warrior is gone, that will be his best and only bulwark.”

“He strode quickly across the inlaid floor, snarling and fierce: his eyes gleamed in the darkness, burned with a gruesome light. Then he stopped, seeing the hall crowded with sleeping warriors,... and his heart laughed, he relished the sight, intended to tear the life from those bodies by morning.”

“On Cain’s kindred did the everlasting Lord avenge the murder, for that he had slain Abel; he had no joy of that feud, but the Creator drove him far from mankind for that misdeed. Thence all evil broods were born, ogres and devils and evil spirits — the giants also, who long time fought with God, for which he gave them their reward.”

“They have seen my strength for themselves, have watched me rise from the darkness of war, dripping with my enemies’ blood. I drove five great giants into chains, chased all of that race from the earth. I swam in the blackness of night, hunting monsters out of the ocean, and killing them one by one; death was my errand and the fate they had earned. Now Grendel and I are called together, and I’ve come.”

“Steams like black clouds, and the groves of trees growing out over their lake are all covered with frozen spray, and wind down snakelike roots that reach as far as the water and help keep it dark. At night that lake burns like a torch. No one knows its bottom, no wisdom reaches such depths.”

“He became like a man. He attired himself with clothes even as does a husband.”

“I saw him and was astounded. I loved him as a woman, falling upon him in embrace. I took him and made him my brother.”

“She tore off one garment and clothed him with it. With a second garment she clothed herself.”

“How is he become like Gilgamish suddenly? In form he is shorter. In ........ he is made powerful.”

“I behold thee Enkidu; like a god thou art. Why with the animals wanderest thou on the plain?”

“Milk of the cattle he drank. Food they placed before him. He broke bread gazing and looking. But Enkidu understood not. Bread to eat, beer to drink, he had not been taught.”

“They met in the wide park of the land. Enkidu held fast the door with his foot, and permitted not Gilgamish to enter. They grappled with each other goring like an ox. The threshold they destroyed.”

“My mother, I have seen another [dream. I beheld] my likeness in the street. In Erech of the wide spaces he hurled the axe, and they assembled about him.”

“Thou beholdest him and art distracted.”

“The advice of the woman fell upon his heart.”

“He seized his weapon, which the panther and lion fells in the night time cruelly. He captured the wild mountain goats. The panther he conquered.”

“Even as one did thy mother bear thee, she the wild cow of the cattle stalls, Ninsunna, whose head she exalted more than a husband. Royal power over the people Enlil has decreed for thee.”

“Oh Enkidu, arise, I will conduct thee unto Eanna dwelling place of Anu, where Gilgamish [oppresses] the souls of men.”

“The mother of Gilgamish, she that knows all things.”

“Among the great sheep for sacrifice Enkidu was their guard. A man, a leader, A hero.”

“During my night I, having become lusty, wandered about in the midst of omens.”

“Eat bread, oh Enkidu! It is the conformity of life, of the conditions and the fate of the land.”

“And there came out stars in the heavens, Like a … of heaven he fell upon me. I bore him but he was too heavy for me. He bore a net but I was not able to bear it.”

“He heard her speak and accepted her words with favor.”

“Truly oh Gilgamish he is born in the fields like thee. The mountains have reared him.”

“The fruit of labours, in the lives to come, Is threefold for all men,--Desirable, And Undesirable, and mixed of both; But no fruit is at all where no work was.”

“First the force; and then The agent; next, the various instruments; Fourth, the especial effort; fifth, the God. What work soever any mortal doth Of body, mind, or speech, evil or good, By these five doth he that.”

“Knowledge, the thing known, and the mind which knows, These make the threefold starting-ground of act.”

“There is ‘true’ Knowledge. Learn thou it is this: To see one changeless Life in all the Lives, And in the Separate, One Inseparable.”

“There is false Knowledge: that which blindly clings To one as if ‘twere all, seeking no Cause, Deprived of light, narrow, and dull, and ‘dark.‘”

“There is ‘dark’ Action: when one doth a thing Heedless of issues, heedless of the hurt Or wrong for others, heedless if he harm His own soul--‘tis of Tamas, black and bad!”

“Fearlessness, singleness of soul, the will Always to strive for wisdom; opened hand And governed appetites; and piety, And love of lonely study; humbleness, Uprightness, heed to injure nought which lives, Truthfulness, slowness unto wrath, a mind That lightly letteth go what others prize; And equanimity, and charity Which spieth no man’s faults; and tenderness Towards all that suffer; a contented heart, Fluttered by no desires; a bearing mild, Modest, and grave, with manhood nobly mixed, With patience, fortitude, and purity; An unrevengeful spirit, never given To rate itself too high;--such be the signs, O Indian Prince! of him whose feet are set On that fair path which leads to heavenly birth!”

“Deceitfulness, and arrogance, and pride, Quickness to anger, harsh and evil speech, And ignorance, to its own darkness blind,-- These be the signs, My Prince! of him whose birth Is fated for the regions of the vile.”

“Ensnared In nooses of a hundred idle hopes, Slaves to their passion and their wrath, they buy Wealth with base deeds, to glut hot appetites.”

“This Universe the womb is where I plant Seed of all lives!”

“The Doors of Hell Are threefold, whereby men to ruin pass,-- The door of Lust, the door of Wrath, the door Of Avarice. Let a man shun those three!”

“For like as foods are threefold for mankind In nourishing, so is there threefold way Of worship, abstinence, and almsgiving!”

“Yet farther will I open unto thee This wisdom of all wisdoms, uttermost, The which possessing, all My saints have passed To perfectness.”

“Ignorance, begot Of Darkness, blinding mortal men, binds down Their souls to stupor, sloth, and drowsiness.”

“The fruit of Soothfastness is true and sweet; The fruit of lusts is pain and toil; the fruit Of Ignorance is deeper darkness The elements, the conscious life, the mind, The unseen vital force, the nine strange gates Of the body, and the five domains of sense; Desire, dislike, pleasure and pain, and thought Deep-woven, and persistency of being; These all are wrought on Matter by the Soul!”

“I give thee sense divine. Have other eyes, new light! And, look! This is My glory, unveiled to mortal sight!”

“Humbleness, truthfulness, and harmlessness, Patience and honour, reverence for the wise. Purity, constancy, control of self, Contempt of sense-delights, self-sacrifice, Perception of the certitude of ill In birth, death, age, disease, suffering, and sin; Detachment, lightly holding unto home, Children, and wife, and all that bindeth men; An ever-tranquil heart in fortunes good And fortunes evil, with a will set firm To worship Me--Me only! ceasing not; Loving all solitudes, and shunning noise Of foolish crowds; endeavours resolute To reach perception of the Utmost Soul, And grace to understand what gain it were So to attain,--this is true Wisdom, Prince.”

“Yea! I have seen! I see! Lord! all is wrapped in Thee!”

“Whoever serve Me--as I show Myself-- Constantly true, in full devotion fixed, Those hold I very holy.”

“To cease from works Is well, and to do works in holiness Is well; and both conduct to bliss supreme; But of these twain the better way is his Who working piously refraineth not.”

“I don’t care.”

“I’m not looking for sympathy. I’m far more interested in symmetry.”

“Love, hate, what’s the difference?”

“He who always greets and constantly reveres the aged, four things will increase to him, viz. life, beauty, happiness, power. But he who lives a hundred years, vicious and unrestrained, a life of one day is better if a man is virtuous and reflecting. And he who lives a hundred years, ignorant and unrestrained, a life of one day is better if a man is wise and reflecting.And he who lives a hundred years, idle and weak, a life of one day is better if a man has attained firm strength. And he who lives a hundred years, not seeing beginning and end, a life of one day is better if a man sees beginning and end. And he who lives a hundred years, not seeing the immortal place, a life of one day is better if a man sees the immortal place. And he who lives a hundred years, not seeing the highest law, a life of one day is better if a man sees the highest law.”

“If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage.”

“For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases by love, this is an old rule.”

“The evil-doer mourns in this world, and he mourns in the next; he mourns in both. He mourns and suffers when he sees the evil of his own work.”

“It is good to tame the mind, which is difficult to hold in and flighty, rushing wherever it listeth; a tamed mind brings happiness.”

“Fools of little understanding have themselves for their greatest enemies, for they do evil deeds which must bear bitter fruits.”

“He who seeking his own happiness does not punish or kill beings who also long for happiness, will find happiness after death.”

“Death carries off a man who is gathering flowers and whose mind is distracted, as a flood carries off a sleeping village.”

“As the bee collects nectar and departs without injuring the flower, or its colour or scent, so let a sage dwell in his village.”

“He who knows that this body is like froth, and has learnt that it is as unsubstantial as a mirage, will break the flower-pointed arrow of Mara, and never see the king of death.”

“If an earnest person has roused himself, if he is not forgetful, if his deeds are pure, if he acts with consideration, if he restrains himself, and lives according to law,—then his glory will increase.”

“The fool who knows his foolishness, is wise at least so far. But a fool who thinks himself wise, he is called a fool indeed.”

“What’s a romance without anger, tears, and woe?”

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts.”

“Those who are in earnest do not die, those who are thoughtless are as if dead already.”

“Not the perversities of others, not their sins of commission or omission, but his own misdeeds and negligences should a sage take notice of.”

“He who lives looking for pleasures only, his senses uncontrolled, immoderate in his food, idle, and weak, Mara (the tempter) will certainly overthrow him, as the wind throws down a weak tree.”

“Long is the night to him who is awake; long is a mile to him who is tired; long is life to the foolish who do not know the true law.”

“Some people are born again; evil-doers go to hell; righteous people go to heaven; those who are free from all worldly desires attain Nirvana.”

“They who know truth in truth, and untruth in untruth, arrive at truth, and follow true desires.”

“As rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, passion will break through an unreflecting mind. As rain does not break through a well-thatched house, passion will not break through a well-reflecting mind.”

“I liked hurting girls The thing is, I got off on it. I really enjoyed it.”

“The idea was to create a sort of lasagna of pain.”

“Since those heady days I heard an adage that seems to apply here: ‘Hurt people hurt people.‘”

“Hurt people hurt people more skillfully. An expert heartbreaker knows the effect of each incision. The blade slips in barely noticed, the pain and the apology delivered at the same time.”

“So in order to feel something through the numbness, I decided to perpetuate on my soul and hers the equivalent of quenching cigarettes on my paralyzed limbs. My hope was that if I registered pain, it would be welcomed as a sign of life.”

“My logic went as follows: If someone hurts you, then you automatically want revenge. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, you want revenge.”

“Romance has killed more people than cancer. Okay, maybe not killed, but dulled more lives. Removed more hope, sold more medication, caused more tears.”

“You might as well argue with a mirror as argue with each other. After all, aren’t we all really the same person?”

“The pain involved in a premeditated broken heart would easily compare with a case of assault, and yet no court of law would recognize it as a crime. A broken arm heals.”

“Maybe there is a law after all. Of nature. Like gravity. An unwritten axiom that governs out emotional dealings. What you do comes back to you in twice the force. We are not punished for our sins, we are punished by them.”

“I just can’t believe that my emotional state could be explained by such an adolescent term as Broken Heart.”

“If I saw someone across the street who did the things to me that I routinely do to me, I’d run in the opposite direction. But I can’t, can I?”

“Why would anyone set out to break the heart of someone they loved? Why would anyone intentionally cause that kind of pain?”

“Combine my celibacy, with my Arctic experiment and you’ve got a potent cocktail of pent-up aggression and self-denial.”

“It’s funny how after we decide we don’t like someone, we can find reasons to support our decision, and equally the other way around.”

“I read somewhere that when someone is in emotional shock, the area around the heart loses some of its protective fat and is therefore dangerously exposed.”

“I hadn’t expected physical pain. A burning sensation in my chest as if a large smoldering boulder had somehow lodged there overnight. A king of drawn-out slowly unfolding panic. The exact opposite of excitement.”

“One well-aimed punch is not just painful; when the person who has been in shock starts to put the weight back on, the heart remains bruised, and this can lead to aortic fibrillation. It’s not life threatening, but it is uncomfortable.”

“I’m whining in retrospect. At the time, I never whined. Not once. I was the picture of humility and gratitude.”

“What was this? Rejection? Was it really this tangible? All I could think about was that if I could be hurt like this then surely I could also cause it in others. This consoled me.”

“I see now that I was in pain and wanted others to feel it, too. This was my way of communicating.”