C.P. Cavafy Quotes

• And if you can't shape your life the way you want, at least try as much as you can not to degrade it.

  C.P. Cavafy

  Trying, Shapes, Want

  C. P. Cavafy (2015). “Selected Poems by C.P. Cavafy”, p.24, Princeton University Press

  50 Copy quote

• When you set out on your journey to Ithaca, pray that the road is long, full of adventure, full of knowledge.

  C.P. Cavafy

  Healing, Adventure, Journey

  51 Copy quote

• My life has been awaiting you. Your footfall was my own heart's beat.

  C.P. Cavafy

  Romantic, Heart, Beats

  37 Copy quote

• Have Ithaka always in your mind. Your arrival there is what you are destined for. But don't in the least hurry the journey.

  C.P. Cavafy

  Journey, Mind, Arrivals

  Constantine P. Cavafy, “Ithaca”

  35 Copy quote

• To certain people there comes a day when they must say the great Yes or the great No.

  C.P. Cavafy

  People, Certain

  30 Copy quote

• From all I did and all I said let no one try to find out who I was.

  C.P. Cavafy

  Trying, Said

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• Body, remember not only how much you were loved, not only the beds you lay on, but also those desires glowing openly in eyes that looked at you, trembling for you in voices.

  C.P. Cavafy

  Eye, Voice, Glowing

  C. P. Cavafy (2015). “Selected Poems by C.P. Cavafy”, p.39, Princeton University Press

  28 Copy quote

• Honor to those who in the life they lead
  define and guard a Thermopylae.
  Never betraying what is right,
  consistent and just in all they do
  but showing pity also, and compassion;
  generous when they are rich, and when they are poor,
  still generous in small ways,
  still helping as much as they can;
  always speaking the truth,
  yet without hating those who lie.
  And even more honor is due to them
  when they foresee (as many do foresee)
  that in the end Ephialtis will make his appearance,
  that the Medes will break through after all.

  C.P. Cavafy

  Badass, Lying, Hate

  Constantine P. Cavafy, “Thermopylae”

  69 Copy quote

• What shall become of us without any barbarians? Those people were a kind of solution.

  C.P. Cavafy

  Kindness, People, Barbarians

  29 Copy quote

• Arriving there is what you are destined for

  C.P. Cavafy

  Arriving, Destined

  C. P. Cavafy (2015). “Selected Poems by C.P. Cavafy”, p.19, Princeton University Press

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• The days of the future stand in front of us Like a line of candles all alight Golden and warm and lively little candles.

  C.P. Cavafy

  Golden, Lines, Littles

  Constantine P. Cavafy, “Candles”

  23 Copy quote

• And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you. Wise as you have become, with so much experience, you must already have understood what these Ithacas mean.

  C.P. Cavafy

  Wise, Mean, Poor

  31 Copy quote

• One candle is enough. Its gentle light will be more suitable, will be more gracious when the Shades arrive, the Shades of Love.

  C.P. Cavafy

  Light, Shade, Enough

  25 Copy quote

• Return often and take me, beloved sensation, return and take me - When memory of the body awakens, and old desire again runs through the blood; when the lips and skin remember, and the hands feel as if they touch again.

  C.P. Cavafy

  Running, Memories, Blood

  Constantine P. Cavafy, “Return”

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• When you set out for Ithaca, ask that your way be long

  C.P. Cavafy

  Long, Way, Asks

  Constantine P. Cavafy, “Ithaca”

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• Don’t mourn your luck that’s failing now, work gone wrong, your plans all proving deceptive — don’t mourn them uselessly. As one long prepared, and graced with courage, say goodbye to her, the Alexandria that is leaving. Above all, don’t fool yourself, don’t say it was a dream, your ears deceived you: don’t degrade yourself with empty hopes like these.

  C.P. Cavafy

  Goodbye, Dream, Long

  Constantine P. Cavafy, “The God Abandons Anthony”

  29 Copy quote

• From my most unnoticed actions,
  my most veiled writing -
  from these alone will I be understood.

  C.P. Cavafy

  Writing, Action, Unnoticed

  "Hidden Things". Poem by C.P. Cavafy,

  10 Copy quote

• If you are one of the truly elect, be careful how you attain your eminence.

  C.P. Cavafy

  Be Careful, Careful, Eminence

  26 Copy quote

• Guard, O my soul, against pomp and glory. And if you cannot curb your ambitions, at least pursue them hesitantly, cautiously. And the higher you go, the more searching and careful you need to be.

  C.P. Cavafy

  Ambition, Soul, Needs

  C. P. Cavafy (2015). “Selected Poems by C.P. Cavafy”, p.14, Princeton University Press

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• That we've broken their statues, that we've driven them out of their temples, doesn't mean at all that the gods are dead. O land of Ionia, they're still in love with you, their souls still keep your memory.

  C.P. Cavafy

  Memories, Love You, Mean

  C. P. Cavafy (2015). “Selected Poems by C.P. Cavafy”, p.17, Princeton University Press

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• A month passes by and brings another month. Easy to guess what lies ahead: all of yesterday's boredom. And tomorrow ends up no longer like tomorrow.

  C.P. Cavafy

  Lying, Yesterday, Boredom

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• On hearing about powerful love, respond, be moved like an aesthete. Only, fortunate as you've been, remember how much your imagination created for you.

  C.P. Cavafy

  Powerful, Imagination, Hearing

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• Try to keep them, poet, those erotic visions of yours, however few of them there are that can be stilled. Put them, half-hidden, in your lines.

  C.P. Cavafy

  Erotic, Vision, Trying

  Constantine P. Cavafy, “When They Come Alive”

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• Roses by the head, jasmine at the feet so appear the longings that have passed without being satisfied, not one of them granted a night of sensual pleasure, or one of its radiant mornings.

  C.P. Cavafy

  Morning, Night, Feet

  18 Copy quote

• Speak not of guilt, speak not of responsibility. When the Regiment of the Senses parades by, with music, and with banners; when the senses shiver and shudder, it is only a fool and and an irreverent person that will keep his distance, who will not embrace the good cause, marching towards the conquest of pleasures and passions. All of morality's laws - poorly understood and applied - are nil and cannot stand even for a moment, when the Regiment of the Senses parades by, with music, and with banners.

  C.P. Cavafy

  Distance, Responsibility, Passion

  "The Regiment of the Senses". Poem by Constantine P. Cavafy, transl. by Manuel Savidis, www.cavafy.com.

  4 Copy quote

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