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Cavafy Quotes

Quotes tagged as "cavafy" Showing 1-5 of 5
Stephen Fry
“Great writers, I discovered, were not to be bowed down before and worshipped, but embraced and befriended. Their names resounded through history not because they had massive brows and thought deep incomprehensible thoughts, but because they opened windows in the mind, they put their arms round you and showed you things you always knew but never dared to believe. Even if their names were terrifyingly foreign and intellectual sounding, Dostoevsky, Baudelaire or Cavafy, they turned out to be charming and wonderful and quite unalarming after all.”
Stephen Fry, The Library Book

Constantinos P. Cavafy
“And if you can鈥檛 shape your life the way you want, at least try as much as you can not to degrade it...”
Constantine P. Cavafy/螝蠅谓蟽蟿伪谓蟿委谓慰蟼 螤. 螝伪尾维蠁畏蟼

Constantinos P. Cavafy
“Don鈥檛 mourn your luck that鈥檚 failing now,
work gone wrong, your plans
all proving deceptive 鈥� don鈥檛 mourn them uselessly.
As one long prepared, and graced with courage,
say goodbye to her, the Alexandria that is leaving.
Above all, don鈥檛 fool yourself, don鈥檛 say
it was a dream, your ears deceived you:
don鈥檛 degrade yourself with empty hopes like these.”
Constantine P. Cavafy/螝蠅谓蟽蟿伪谓蟿委谓慰蟼 螤. 螝伪尾维蠁畏蟼

Barry B. Powell
“As you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that your journey be a long one,
filled with adventure, filled with discovery.
Laestrygonians and Cyclopes,
the angry Poseidon--do not fear them:
you'll never find such things on your way
unless your sight is set high, unless a rare
excitement stirs your spirit and your body.
The Laestrygonians and Cyclopes,
the savage Poseidon--you won't meet them
so long as you do not admit them to your soul,
as long as your soul does not set them before you.
Pray that your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings
when with what pleasure, with what joy,
you enter harbors never seen before.
May you stop at Phoenician stations of trade to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and voluptuous perfumes of every kind--
buy as many voluptuous perfumes as you can.
And may you go to many Egyptian cities
to learn and learn from those who know.
Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
You are destined to arrive there.
But don't hurry your journey at all.
Far better if it takes many years,
and if you are old when you anchor at the island,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will give you wealth.
Ithaca has given you a beautiful journey.
Without her you would never have set out.
She has no more left to give you.
And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not mocked you.
As wise as you have become, so filled with experience,
you will have understood what these Ithacas signify.”
Barry B. Powell, Classical Myth

Constantinos P. Cavafy
“He came to read; two or three books
are lying open: history and poetry.
But after just ten minutes of reading
he lets them drop. There on the sofa
he falls asleep. He truly is devoted to reading-
but he is twenty-three years old, and very handsome.
And just this afternoon, Eros surged
within his perfect limbs and on his lips.
Into his beautiful flesh came the heat of passion,
and there was no foolish embarrassment
about the form that pleasure took..”
C.P Cavafy