If only strife could die from the lives of gods and men and anger that drives the sanest man to flare in outrage - bitter gall, sweeter than dripping streams of honey, that swarms in people's chests and blinds like smoke.

If only strife could die from the lives of gods and men
and anger that drives the sanest man to flare in outrage –
bitter gall, sweeter than dripping streams of honey,
that swarms in people’s chests and blinds like smoke.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 18, lines 126-129. Achilles is struggling to process the death of his beloved friend Patroclus. He curses the anger that kept him from protecting his greatest friend. He wishes that conflict and anger could vanish from the lives of men and gods. A number of similes are used here, comparing the bigger gall of anger to smoke, and also strangely to the sweetness of honey.

Homer Quotes