50+ Greece Quotes: Sayings That Will Inspire a Visit
Last Updated on 26th June 2024 by Sophie Nadeau
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If you’re dreaming of the azure blue sea as much as us, then these Greece quotes are for you. From the many historic ruins in and around the capital city of Athens to the delicious Mediterranean cuisine of the country to the most remote of islands, Greece has much to offer even the most discerning of travellers. And these sayings about Greece will make you want to book a flight ASAP…
Greece is a country in South West Europe that boasts thousands of islands (between 1200 and 6000 depending on what you consider the minimum ‘size’ for an island to be). Greece is most famous thanks to the fact that many consider it to be the cradle of Western Civilisation.
Easily one of the most popular travel destinations in Europe, highlights of a visit to Greece include island hopping in the Aegean Sea, being amazed by the Acropolis of Athens, and marvelling at the Meteroa Monastery Complex.
More off the beaten path hidden gems of Greece include the islands of Milos and Paros. The sheer diversity of the Greek islands, as well as their readily apparent beauty means that those looking to go somewhere romantic after their wedding should seriously consider a honeymoon in Greece.
50+ Greece Quotes You’ll Love
“The problem with Greece is that she’s just too beautiful.” – Unknown
“The light of Greece opened my eyes, penetrated my pores, expanded my whole being.” – Henry Miller
“The centre of Western culture is Greece, and we have never lost our ties with the architectural concepts of that ancient civilisation.” – Stephen Gardiner
“If I could go anywhere, I’d love to visit Greece someday because it looks so beautiful.” – Laurie Hernandez
“Greece is a good place to look at the moon, isn’t it?” – Kari Hesthamar
“Greece is a good place for rebirths.” – Judith Martin
“On a summer night, I have sat on the balcony drinking Ouzo, watching the ghosts of Greek Heroes sailing past, listening to the rustle of their sail cloths and the gentle lapping of their oars… and lain alongside Pythagoras watching him study the myriad of triangles in the constellations twinkling above us. Whether it was Crete, the heat, the Ouzo, or a combination, it is unequalled anywhere other than Santorini, in my humble opinion.” – Phil Simpkin
“I wonder if Socrates and Plato took a house on Crete during the summer.” – Woody Allen
“Enthusiasm is a wonderful thing. In South America, they throw flowers to you. In Greece, Greeks throw themselves.” – Melina Mercouri
“In a way, it’s nice to know that there are Greek gods out there, because you have somebody to blame when things go wrong. For instance, when you’re walking away from a bus that’s just been attacked by monster hags and blown up by lightning, and it’s raining on top of everything else, most people might think that’s just really bad luck; when you’re a half-blood, you understand that some divine force is really trying to mess up your day.” – Rick Riordan
“Gradually the magic of the island [Corfu] settled over us as gently and clingingly as pollen.” – Gerald Durrell
“In every island of the Aegean Sea are found abundant traces of a vast prehistoric empire.” – James Theodore Bent
“You can’t swing a cat in Ancient Greece without hitting one of Zeus’s ex-girlfriends.” – Rick Riordan
“Europe holds a great history of philosophy from Greece until today. I read all those books and see these buildings, and I think of where I stand when I design my architecture.” – Tadao Ando
“I want to have an ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ experience where I drop off the face of the planet and move to Greece.” – Jennifer Hyman
“My childhood in Corfu shaped my life. If I had the craft of Merlin, I would give every child the gift of my childhood.” – Gerald Durrell
“Greece is the home of the gods; they may have died but their presence still makes itself felt. The gods were of human proportion: they were created out of the human spirit.” – Henry Miller
“We are all Greeks. Our laws, our literature, our religion, our arts, have their root in Greece.” – Percy Bysshe Shelley
“Happy is the man, I thought, who, before dying, has the good fortune to sail the Aegean sea.” – Nikos Kazantzakis
“In Greece, people have a quality of life. People here live beautifully.” – Otto Rehhagel
“Experts in ancient Greek culture say that people back then didn’t see their thoughts as belonging to them. When ancient Greeks had a thought, it occurred to them as a god or goddess giving an order.
Apollo was telling them to be brave. Athena was telling them to fall in love. Now people hear a commercial for sour cream potato chips and rush out to buy, but now they call this free will. At least the ancient Greeks were being honest.” – Chuck Palahniuk
“It takes a lifetime to discover Greece, but it only takes an instant to fall in love with her.” – Henry Miller
“Greece has got something like 1,400 islands. There is so much of Greece you can’t know even if you’re Greek. It’s sprinkled out all around the edge of the Aegean, all over the place. It’s already a secret place wherever you go, even if it’s somewhere huge like Athens or Corinth. The place enchanted me.” – Joanna Lumley
“Greece appears to be the fountain of knowledge; Rome of elegance.” – Samuel Johnson
“I want to go to Italy and France; those are my two places. And I really want to go to Greece. I’ve seen so many pictures on Airbnb that make me think I should be living there. I could eat great salads and be on a boat.” – Mary Lambert
“Greece was a muse. It inspired creativity in magical ways that I can’t even begin to understand or explain.” – Joe Bonamass
“It is no wonder that historians trace the birth of Western civilization to these jewels of the Aegean, Ionian, and Mediterranean seas. The Greek Isles are home to wide-ranging and far-reaching cultural traditions and mythic tales, not to mention the colorful history and unforgettable vistas that still draw thousands of tourists to the region every year.” – Laura Brooks
“I want to see the Parthenon by moonlight.” – Daphne Du Maurier
“Alcohol makes other people less tedious, and food less bland, and can help provide what the Greeks called entheos, or the slight buzz of inspiration when reading or writing.” – Christopher Hitchens
“The world is the expanding Greece and Greece is the shrinking world.” – Victor Hugo
“The spirit of Greece, passing through and ascending above the world, hath so animated universal nature, that the very rocks and woods, the very torrents and wilds burst forth with it.” – Walter Savage Landor
“I truly enjoyed Greece – Santorini. That’s somewhere that I always want to be.” – Kendall Jenner
“I wonder if Socrates and Plato took a house on Crete during the summer.” – Woody Allen
“Student journeys which were important to me were Sicily, Greece, and Egypt, where I really saw these buildings, and that is where you’re able to grasp what things mean.” – Ben Nicholson
“I like reading, free diving, and hiking. But my favorite thing to do is travel anywhere in Greece. I love everything about that place.” – Max Irons
“The sea was sapphire colored, and the sky Burned like a heated opal through the air; We hoisted sail; the wind was blowing fair For the blue lands that to the eastward lie.
From the steep prow I marked with quickening eye Zakynthos, every olive grove and creek, Ithaca’s cliff, Lycaon’s snowy peak, And all the flower-strewn hills of Arcady.
The flapping of the sail against the mast, The ripple of the water on the side, The ripple of girls’ laughter at the stern, The only sounds:- when ‘gan the West to burn, And a red sun upon the seas to ride, I stood upon the soil of Greece at last!” – Oscar Wilde
“The isles of Greece, the isles of Greece! Where burning Sappho loved and sung, Where grew the arts of war and peace, Where Delos rose, and Phoebus sprung! Eternal summer gilds them yet, But all, except their sun, is set.” – Lord Byron
“Her dress sparkled like the stars that blanketed the Mykonos night sky.” – Anthea Syrokou
“Unless you have seen the houses of Mykonos, you can’t pretend to be an architect. Whatever architecture has to say, it is said here.” – Le Corbusier
“Contemporary travelers to the Greek Isles come for myriad reasons and find a dazzling array of unexpected delights, for each of the more than three thousand islands has its own particular character.” – Laura Brooks
“Earth proudly wears the Parthenon as the best gem upon her zone.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Of the many smells of Athens two seem to me the most characteristic – that of garlic, bold and deadly like acetylene gas. and that of dust, soft and warm and caressing like tweed.” – Evelyn Waugh
“We approached Athens from the north in early twilight, climbing a hill. When we reached its peak, we were dazzled to look down and see the Acropolis struck by one beam of the setting sun, as if posing for a picture.” – Donald Hall
“Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts And eloquence.” – John Milton
“Let there be light! Said Liberty, And like sunrise from the sea, Athens arose!” – Percy Bysshe Shelley
“Today, to walk along the pebbled pathways of a traditional Greek mountain village or the marbled streets of an ancient acropolis is to step back in time. To meander at a leisurely pace through these island chains by boat is to be captivated by the same dramatic landscapes and enchanted islets that make the myths of ancient Greece so compelling. To witness the Mediterranean sun setting on the turquoise sea is to receive one of life’s greatest blessings.” – Laura Brooks
