C.P. Cavafy Quotes

 "When you set out on your journey to Ithaca, pray that the road is long, full of adventure, full of knowledge." ~ C.P. Cavafy

 "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

 "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

 "My life has been awaiting you. Your footfall was my own heart's beat." ~ C.P. Cavafy

 "From all I did and all I said let no one try to find out who I was." ~ C.P. Cavafy

 "To certain people there comes a day when they must say the great Yes or the great No." ~ C.P. Cavafy

 "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

 "Arriving there is what you are destined for" ~ C.P. Cavafy

 "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

 "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

 "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

 "If you are one of the truly elect, be careful how you attain your eminence." ~ C.P. Cavafy

 "From my most unnoticed actions,my most veiled writing -from these alone will I be understood." ~ C.P. Cavafy

 "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

 "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

 "What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum? The barbarians are due here today." ~ C.P. Cavafy

 "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

 "He wasn't completely wrong, poor old Gemistus (let Lord Andronicus and the patriarch suspect him if they like), in wanting us, telling us to become pagan once again." ~ C.P. Cavafy