Quotations about   anxiety

But the great hero himself tossed and turned.
It was like a man roasting a paunch
Stuffed with fat and blood over a fire.
He can’t wait for it to be done
And so keeps turning it over and over.

[ἀτὰρ αὐτὸς ἑλίσσετο ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα.
ὡς δ᾽ ὅτε γαστέρ᾽ ἀνὴρ πολέος πυρὸς αἰθομένοιο,
ἐμπλείην κνίσης τε καὶ αἵματος, ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα
αἰόλλῃ, μάλα δ᾽ ὦκα λιλαίεται ὀπτηθῆναι,
ὣς ἄρ᾽ ὅ γ᾽ ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα ἑλίσσετο]

Homer (fl. 7th-8th C. BC) Greek author
The Odyssey [Ὀδύσσεια], Book 20, l. 24ff (c. 700 BC) [tr. Lombardo (2000)]
    (Source)

(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:

But from side to side
It made him toss apace. You have not tried
A fellow roasting of a pig before
A hasty fire, his belly yielding store
Of fat and blood, turn faster, labour more
To have it roast, and would not have it burn,
Than this and that way his unrest made turn
His thoughts and body ....
[tr. Chapman (1616)]

He lay restlessly.
As one that has raw flesh upon the fire,
And hungry is, is ever turning it;
So turneth he himself ....
[tr. Hobbes (1675), l. 20ff]

Restless his body rolls, to rage resign'd
As one who long with pale-eyed famine pined,
The savoury cates on glowing embers cast
Incessant turns, impatient for repast.
[tr. Pope (1725)]

Yet he turn’d from side to side.
As when some hungry swain turns oft a maw
Unctuous and sav’ry on the burning coals,
Quick expediting his desired repast ....
[tr. Cowper (1792), l. 26ff]

But ever he rolled tossing to and fro.
As when a man beside a blazing fire
Turneth a rich fat goat-paunch to and fro,
Over and over, with intense desire
Quickly to roast it ....
[tr. Worsley (1861), st. 4]

But himself tossed to and fro.
As when a wight a'front a blazing fire
A savoury haggis full of fat and gravy
Restlessly turns and tumbles to and fro --
In hope right well and quickly for to roast it.
[tr. Bigge-Wither (1869), l. 24ff]

But, ev'n as when a man at some fierce fire
A savoury paunch with fat and blood replete
From side to side turns oft, intent with speed
Most prompt to roast it; -- so, from right to left
Ulysses swaying lay.
[tr. Musgrave (1869), l. 36ff]

But Odysseus himself lay tossing this way and that. And as when a man by a great fire burning takes a paunch full of fat and blood, and turns it this way and that and longs to have it roasted most speedily, so Odysseus tossed from side to side.
[tr. Butcher/Lang (1879)]

But he himself in meanwhile was tossing here and there.
As when a man hath gotten by a great fire blazing out
A paunch of fat and of blood, and turneth it oft about
Hither and thither, all eager to roast it speedily.
[tr. Morris (1887)]

Yet he himself kept tossing to and fro. As when a man near a great glowing fire turns to and fro a sausage, full of fat and blood, anxious to have it quickly roast.
[tr. Palmer (1891)]

He tossed about as one who turns a paunch full of blood and fat in front of a hot fire, doing it first on one side and then on the other, that he may get it cooked as soon as possible, even so did he turn himself about from side to side ....
[tr. Butler (1898)]

But he himself lay tossing this way and that. And as when a man before a great blazing fire turns swiftly this way and that a paunch full of fat and blood, and is very eager to have it roasted quickly, so Odysseus tossed from side to side ....
[tr. Murray (1919)]

But the strain tossed his body about, like the basting paunch stuffed with blood and fat that a man who wants it immediately cooked will turn over and over before a blazing fire. In such fashion did Odysseus roll to this side and to that ....
[tr. Lawrence (1932)]

Odysseus nevertheless could not help tossing to and fro on his bed, just as a paunch stuffed with fat and blood is tossed this way and that in the blaze of the fire by a cook who wants to get it quickly roasted, twisting and turning thus to one side and the other ....
[tr. Rieu (1946)]

He himself rocked, rolling from side to side, as a cook turns a sausage, big with blood and fat, at a scorching blaze, without a pause, to broil it quick.
[tr. Fitzgerald (1961)]

Yet Odysseus' own self thrashed this way and that. Just as a man before a blazing fire who's skewered a paunch that's stuffed with blood and fat will swiftly turn ths spit this way and that, eager to have it roasted fast.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1990)]

But he himself kept tossing, turning,
intent as a cook before some white-hot blazing fire
who rolls his sizzling sausage back and forth,
packed with fat and blood -- keen to broil it quickly,
tossing, turning it, this way, that way.
[tr. Fagles (1996)]

Nevertheless, he could not help twisting and turning, just as a paunch stuffed with fat and blood is turned this way and that in the blaze of the roaring fire by a man who wants to get it quickly roasted.
[tr. DCH Rieu (2002)]

But Odysseus himself kept tossing back and forth. As when a man has stuffed a paunch full of fat and blood, and keeps turning it back and forth on a blazing-hot fire, because he wants it to be cooked as soon as possible, so Odysseus kept turning back and forth ....
[tr. Verity (2016)]

He writhed around, as when a man rotates a sausage full of fat and blood; the huge fire blazes, and he longs to have the roasting finished.
[tr. Wilson (2017)]

He still tossed and turned, back and forth. Just as a man
eager to roast a stomach stuffed with fat and blood
turns it quickly round and round on a blazing fire,
that is how lord Odysseus tossed and turned ....
[tr. Johnston (2019), l. 25ff]