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Willis Barnstone Quotes

Browse 240 quotes about Willis Barnstone.

Willis Barnstone Quotes

“Some say cavalry and others claim infantry or a fleet of long oars is the supreme sight on the black earth. I say it is the one you love. And easily proved. Did not Helen, who far surpassed all in beauty, desert the best of men her husband and king and sail off to Troy and forget her daughter and dear parents? Merely love's gaze made her bend and led her from her path. These tales remind me now of Anaktoria who is gone. And I would rather see her supple step and motion of light on her face than chariots of the Lydians or ranks of foot soldiers in bronze. Now this is impossible yet among the living I pray for a share and unexpectedly”

“Helen, your sinful deeds brought a bitter end to Priam and his lovely children. They say because of you holy Ilium was destroyed by climbing fire. But the son of Aiakos did not find such a wife when he summoned the blessed gods to his wedding and took the delicate sea nymph Thetis from the watery palace of Nereus, bringing her to the mountain cave of the centaur Cheiron. There, the love of Peleus for his sea-nymph led him to lie naked with the untouched virgin, and within the year she bore a son, Achilles; bravest demigod and splendid driver of tawny stallions. But for Helen, Ilium and her people were destroyed.”

“A tilting sea and thundering winds tossed the carved chest and filled Danaë with terror; she cried and placed her arm lovingly around Perseus saying: 'My child, I suffer and yet your heart is calm; you sleep profoundly in the blue dark of night and shine in our gloomy bronze-ribbed boat. Don't think of the heaving saltwave that seeps in through airholes and drenches your hair, nor of the clamoring gale; but lying in our seaviolet blanket keep your lovely body close to mine. If you knew the horror of our plight, your gentle ears would hear my words. But sleep, my son, and let the ocean sleep and our great troubles end. I ask you, father Zeus, rescue us from our fate; and should my words seem too severe, I beg you please remember where we are, and forgive my prayer.”

“A boy who is still a child grows baby teeth and loses them all in seven years. When God makes him fourteen, the signs of maturity begin to shine on his body. In the third seven, limbs growing, chin bearded, his skin acquires the color of manhood. In the fourth age a man is at a peak in strength—a sign in man of excellence. The time is ripe in the fifth for a young man to think of marriage and of offspring. In the sixth the mind of man is trained in all things; he doesn't try the impossible. In the seventh and eighth, that is, fourteen years, he speaks most eloquently in his life. He can still do much in the ninth but his speech and thought are discernibly less keen, and if he makes the full measure of ten sevens, when death comes, it will not come too soon.”

“Kithairon sang of cunning Kronos and sacred Rhea who stole her son Zeus, mighty among immortals. Then the Muses asked the gods to put their ballot stones in the urn of gold. All stood up and Kithairon won the greater part. Hermes shouted loud, at once proclaiming sweet victory. The gods adorned his brow with flowers, and Kithairon rejoiced. But Helikon was stunned with bitter rage, and tore a massive boulder from the mountain. Insanely he shouted and lobbed the rock down on thousands of mortals below.”