Epic Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old epic quotes, epic sayings, and epic proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

The epic disappeared along with the age of personal heroism; there can be no epic with artillery. Ernest Renan
The true evolutionary epic, retold as poetry, is as intrinsically ennobling as any religious epic. E. O. Wilson
The culture of the Epic Fail, in its rituals of comic sacrifice, is a culture of sublimated predation. Mark O'Connell
If epic poetry is a definite species, the sagas do not fall within it. Lascelles Abercrombie
Epics are never written about libraries. They exist on whim; it depends on if the conquering army likes to read. Patricia A. Mckillip
With epic fantasy, there is a tendency for it to be quintessentially conservative in that its job is to restore what is perceived to be out of whack. N. K. Jemisin
The true epic of our times is not "Arm's and the Man," but "Tools and the Man"--an infinitely wider kind of epic. Thomas Carlyle
Epic poetry exhibits life in some great symbolic attitude. It cannot strictly be said to symbolize life itself, but always some manner of life. Lascelles Abercrombie
The epic implications of being human end in more than this: We start our lives as if they were momentous stories, with a beginning, a middle and an appropriate end, only to find that they are mostly middles. Anatole Broyard
An epic is not made by piecing together a set of heroic lays, adjusting their discrepancies and making them into a continuous narrative. Lascelles Abercrombie
A false tale often betrays itself. Aesop
As one tale ends, so another begins. Jackie Chan
The tale is often wiser than the teller. Susan Fletcher
All bad writers are in love with the epic. Ernest Hemingway
The first epics were intended for recitation; the literary epic is meant to be read. Lascelles Abercrombie
An honest tale speeds best being plainly told. William Shakespeare
A tale without love is like beef without mustard: insipid. Anatole France
An epic is the easiest kind of picture to make badly. Charlton Heston
Every tale is not to be believed. Aesop
Epic production has less to do with your willpower and more to do with the routines you install. Get those right, and you'll enjoy exponential results automatically. Robin S. Sharma