Sappho

Sappho (c. 630 BC – c. 570 BC) of Lesbos was a Greek female poet flourished during c. 610 BC – 580 BC. She is considered to be the first lyric poet and the greatest female poet of ancient Greece known for passionate lyricism and grace. She was also called the 'Tenth Muse' and the 'Pierien Bee'. Known primarily as a poet of romance and love, she also composed Unrequited Love.

She was a contemporary of Alcæus. A woman of strong passions and of questionable morality, but of undoubted genius, her lyrics being among the masterpieces of antiquity, though only two of her odes and some short fragments of others remain. Of her history little is known, and what is known is far from reliable. The word lesbian is an allusion to Sappho, originating from the name of the island of Lesbos, where she was born.

Wisdom & Quotes

• Death is an evil; the gods have so judged; had it been good, they would die.

-fragment

• Let me only glance where you are

the voice dies,
I can say nothing,
But my lips are stricken to silence, underneath my
skin the tenuous flame suffuses;
nothing shows in front of my eyes,
my ears are muted in thunder.
And the sweat breaks running upon me, fever
shakes my body, paler I turn than grass is;
I can feel that I have been changed, I feel that
death has come near me.

• What cannot be said will be wept.
• In the crooks of your body, I find my religon.
• There is no place for grief in a house which serves the Muse.
• What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful.
• With his venom irresistible and bittersweet that loosener of limbs, Love reptile-like strikes me down.
• Once again love drives me on, that loosener of limbs, bittersweet creature against which nothing can be done.
• Although only breath, words which I command are immortal.
• Love is a cunning weaver of fantasies and fables.
• I would not think to touch the sky with two arms.

― If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho

• From all the offspring of the earth and heaven love is the most precious.
• No honey for me, if it comes with a bee.
• The evening star Is the most beautiful of all stars.
• Beauty endures only for as long as it can be seen; goodness, beautiful today, will remain so tomorrow.
• When anger spreads through the breath, guard thy tongue from barking idly.
• Whatever one loves most is beautiful.
• Experience shows us Wealth unchaperoned by Virtue is never an innocuous neighbor.

Lao-tse