40 Fabulous Quotes About Greece That You’ll Love!

“The world is the expanding Greece and Greece is the shrinking world.”

Victor Hugo

“In the world over, the very name of our country is immediately associated with the Parthenon.”

Melina Mercouri

“Greece is a good place for rebirths.”

Judith Martin

“I want to see the Parthenon by moonlight.”

Daphne Du Maurier

“In Greece, people have a quality of life. People here live beautifully.”

Otto Rehhagel

“And then God said, let there be Greece.”

Unknown

“The light of Greece opened my eyes, penetrated my pores, expanded my whole being.”

Henry Miller

“If Greece is destroyed completely, an olive tree, a vine, and a boat will remain. That is enough to rebuild her from the beginning.”

Odysseus Elytis

“If I could go anywhere, I’d love to visit Greece someday because it looks so beautiful.”

Laurie Hernandez

“It takes a lifetime to discover Greece, but it only takes an instant to fall in love with her.”

Henry Miller

“Greece appears to be the fountain of knowledge; Rome of elegance.”

Samuel Johnson

“Greece is a good place to look at the moon, isn’t it?”

Kari Hesthamar

“We are all Greeks. Our laws, our literature, our religion, our arts, have their root in Greece.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley

“Greece – The feeling of being lost in time and geography with months and years hazily sparkling ahead in a prospect of inconjecturable magic.”

Patrick Leigh Fermor

“In Greece, we’re too poor to go to psychiatrists – we have friends instead.”

Melina Mercouri

“Happy is the man, I thought, who, before dying, has the good fortune to sail the Aegean sea.”

Nikos Kazantzakis

“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

“I’m looking at the sea on the wall, and even though it’s a copy of a copy of the Aegean, I wish you would grab me and take me to Greece.”

Analicia Sotelo

“The problem with Greece is that she’s just too beautiful.”

Unknown

“Greece was a muse. It inspired creativity in magical ways that I can’t even begin to understand or explain.”

Joe Bonamassa

“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

“I want to have an ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ experience where I drop off the face of the planet and move to Greece.” 

Jennifer Hyman

“You know you’re in Greece when you feel a unique, indescribable, out of this world euphoria being there and a deep sadness when you’re leaving.”

Unknown

“In every island of the Aegean Sea are found abundant traces of a vast prehistoric empire.”

James Theodore Bent

“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

“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

“Enthusiasm is a wonderful thing. In South America, they throw flowers to you. In Greece, Greeks throw themselves.”

Melina Mercouri

“The center of Western culture is Greece, and we have never lost our ties with the architectural concepts of that ancient civilization.”

Stephen Gardiner

“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

“When God was handing out the lands on earth he called the representatives of all tribes to meet at noon on a certain date. After a night of revelry, the Greeks showed up late only to find out God had already allocated each tribe its land. As usual, the Greeks grumbled, so finally, God conceded. “There are no more lots available except one I had kept for myself“ – and he gave them Greece. Truth or fiction, this is truly a blessed land.”

Unknown

“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

“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

“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

“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

“One of the purest joys that man can afford in this world is to visit the Aegean Sea in the spring, with a breath of light breeze; I have never been able to imagine paradise in any other way. This joy grows right upside down, but God does not allow it to escalate so that the beloved visible world does not disappear with it, on the contrary, the invisible world becomes visible, and what we call God and eternal life and bliss join us on the ship and accompany us on the voyage. In the bitter hour of your death, close your eyes, and you will see Santorini, Naxos, Paros, Mykonos.”

Nikos Kazantzakis

“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

“On a summers 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 unequaled anywhere other than Santorini, in my humble opinion.”

Phil Simpkin

“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

“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. From the larger, bustling islands of Crete, Rhodes, and the island nation of Cyprus to the quieter havens of Folegandros and Kárpathos, to the hundreds of tiny, uninhabited islets of the region, the Greek Isles present a collage of diverse landscapes and customs. Mykonos is fun-loving, with lively tavernas and populated beaches. Delos is stoic, protecting the ruins of its ancient sanctuaries in solemn dignity. Milos is magical, with its volcanic rock formations and stunning village vistas.” 

Laura Brooks