Right after the..
Ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, Μοῦσα, πολύτροπον, ὃς μάλα πολλὰ
πλάγχθη, ἐπεὶ Τροίης ἱερὸν πτολίεθρον ἔπερσε·
comes my favorite verse of Odyssey, ever since I read it is the following..

πολλῶν δ’ ἀνθρώπων ἴδεν ἄστεα καὶ νόον ἔγνω,
meaning, "He saw the cities of many men (peoples) and learned their mind (way of thinking)"
It is one of those phrases that really stick on a person's mind, this one particularly stuck in mine.
I guess it is one of the reasons why I find History so appealing.

If you want to read the first chapter of Odyssey,
http://sjcsfarchive.org/drupal/files...y_1_1-10_0.pdf