GREEK WISDOM…….

                                         PROVERBS and QUOTES…….. 

 

Little Pearls

Of

Greek Wisdom

 

         "Proverbs and quotes small in size, but considerable in content" 

 

Be inspired by the wisdom and insight of the great writers and philosophers.

 

 [Originally published in booklet form by Akroterion Publications (First published 1999. Re-printed 2001). Quotes and texts selected and compiled by Stuart Robinson]

 

 

 

 

Know Thyself

-Anon-

[Inscribed on the temple of Apollo at Delphi. 

Plato ascribes the saying to the Seven Wise Men]

 

 What is more blessed

Than to imitate on earth

The chorus of Angels:

 To hasten to prayer

At the break of day,

And to worship

Our Creator

With hymns

And songs.

-Basil the Great- 

 

Happiness resides

Not in possessions

And not in gold,

 The feeling of happiness

Dwells in the soul.

-Democritus-

 

 

 It is not good

For all our wishes to be fulfilled:

 Through sickness

We recognise the value of health,

Through evil

The value of good,

Through hunger

Satisfaction,

Through exertion

The value of rest.

-Heraclitus-

 

 There are only two remedies

For the suffering of

The soul:

 HOPE and PATIENCE.

-Pythagoras-

 

 

Bear patiently,

My heart -

For you

Have suffered

Heavier things.

-Homer-

 

 

Happiness

Is self-contentedness.

-Aristotle-

 

 

He only lives,

Who living

Enjoys life.

-Menander-

 

 

In life it is those who

Act rightly who carry

Off all the prizes and

Rewards.

-Socrates-

 

 

Remember,

No human condition

Is ever permanent.

Then you will not be

Overjoyed in good fortune,

 Nor too sorrowful in

Misfortune.

-Isocrates-

 

 

 There is one thing alone

That stands the brunt of life

Throughout its course:

A Quiet Conscience.

-Euripides-

 

 

Look death

In the face

With joyful hope.

 And consider this a lasting truth:

 The righteous man

Has nothing to fear,

Neither in life,

Nor in death,

And the gods

Will not

Forsake him.

-Socrates-

 

 

If you want

To be loved,

Then

LOVE.

-Hecaton-

 

 

 Every man

Will fall

Who, though born a man,

Proudly presumes

To be a

Superman.

-Sophocles-

 

 

 

One ought not

To return a wrong

Or an injury

To any person…

Whatever the provocation.

-Plato-

 

 

It is hard

To fight with anger.

For what it wants

It buys at the price

Of the

Soul.

-Heraclitus-

 

 

Our actions determine

Our dispositions.

-Socrates-

 

 

 Much learning

Does not teach

Understanding.

-Heraclitus-

 

 

Where there is no light,

All is darkness.

Where there is no humility,

All is rotten.

-John Climacus-

 

 

False words are not

Only evil in themselves,

But they infect the

Soul with evil.

-Plato-

 

 

Wrong-doing

Can only be avoided,

If those who are not wronged

Feel the same indignation at it,

As those who are.

-Solon-

 

 

No one does wrong

Willingly.

-Socrates-

 

 

 Evil deeds

Do not prosper.

-Homer-

 

 

One may learn wisdom

Even from one's enemies.

-Aristophanes-

 

 

The true lover of knowledge

Naturally strives for

Truth

And is not content

With common opinion,

But soars with undiminished

And universal passion

Till he grasps

The essential nature of things.

-Plato-

 

 

[On looking at a display of expensive items in a shop]

 How many things

I can do without!

-Socrates-

 

 

 We must try to keep the mind

In tranquillity…

For when the mind is distracted

By countless worldly cares,

It cannot reach out clearly to

The TRUTH.

-Basil the Great-

 

 

Everywhere

Man blames nature and fate;

Yet his fate

Is mostly but the echo of his

Character and passions,

His mistakes and

Weaknesses.

-Democritus-

 

 

Haste in every business

Brings failures.

-Herodotus-

 

 

One is rich

Not through one's possessions

But

Through that

Which one can with dignity

Do without.

-Epicurus-

 

 

Wisdom outweighs

Any wealth.

-Sophocles-

 

One must not tie

A ship to a single

Anchor,

Nor life to a single

Hope.

-Epectetus-

 

 

He who submits to fate

Without complaint…

Is wise.

-Euripides-

 

 

Even he who is

Wiser than wise

May err.

-Aeschylus-

 

 

If man is

Moderate and contented

Then even age is no burden.

If he is not,

Then even youth

Is full of cares.

-Plato-

 

 

Learn to be silent,

Let your quiet mind

Listen and absorb.

-Pythagoras-

 

 

 A pleasant and happy life

Does not come from external

Things.

Man draws from within himself,

As from a spring,

Pleasure and joy.

-Plutarch-

 

 

Live today

Forget the cares of the past!

-Epicurus-

 

 

Nothing in Excess.

-Greek Proverb-

 

 Beware the barrenness

Of a busy life.

-Socrates-

 

 

You can discover more

About a person in an hour

Of play,

Than in a year of

Conversation.

-Plato-

 

 

Experience, travel - these are

As education in themselves.

-Euripides-

 

 

The beginning is half

Of every action.

-Greek Proverb-

 

 

Pray thee, o God, that I

May be beautiful within.

-Socrates-

 

 

The wisest men follow

Their own direction.

-Euripides-

 

 

It is the mark of an

Educated mind to be able

To entertain a thought

Without accepting it.

-Aristotle-

 

 

Be as you wish to seem.

-Socrates-

 

Envy is the ulcer of

The soul.

-Socrates-

 

 

Do not speak of your

Happiness to one less

Fortunate than

Yourself.

-Plutarch-

 

Zeus does not bring

All man's plans to

Fulfilment.

-Homer-

 

 

Suffering becomes beautiful

When anyone who bears great

Calamities with cheerfulness,

Not through insensibility

But through greatness of

Mind.

-Aristotle-

 

 

Love is a serious mental disease.

-Plato-

 

 

Friends are as companions

On a journey,

Who ought to aid each other

To persevere

On the road to a happier

Life.

-Pythagoras-

 

 

A heart that loves,

Is always young.

-Greek Proverb-

 

 

Fate leads him who

Follows it,

And drags him who

Resists.

-Plutarch-

 

 

An open enemy

Is better than a

False friend.

-Greek Proverb-

 

 

What we achieve

Inwardly,

Will change our

Outer reality.

-Plutarch-

 

 

We should look for someone

To eat and drink with

Before looking for something

To eat and drink

For dining alone is leading

The life of a

Lion or a wolf.

-Epicurus-

  

 

Any man who can blush

Has some honesty in him.

-Menander-

 

 

Poverty is the mother

Of the arts.

-Theocritus-

 

 

The beginning is half

Of the whole.

-Hesiod-

 

 

In an honourable enterprise

There must be no delay.

-Nigrinus-

 

 

Sweetest is the life

That is untroubled by

Thought.

-Sophocles-

 

 

We know nothing for sure:

Truth is hidden

At the bottom of a well.

-Diogenes Laertius-

 

 

Let each man practise

The craft he knows.

-Aristophanes-

 

 

God is revolted by boasting.

-Sophocles-

 

 

Democracy is the worst form

Of despotism.

-Aristotle-

 

 

Ears had they and heard not.

-Aeschylus-

 

 

Better to do little

Than a great deal badly.

-Socrates-

 

 

Time is a doctor who heals

All griefs.

-Diphilus-

 

 

In great attempts,

Even to fail is glorious.

-Greek Proverb-

 

 

Whom the gods love die young.

-Menander-

 

 

Idleness is the mother of want.

-Greek Proverb-

 

 

The middle course is always

The safest.

-Menander-

 

 

War is sweet to those

Who never tried it.

-Pindar-

 

 

Nature creates nothing

Without a purpose.

-Aristotle-

 

 

When all pay their share,

The burden to each is light.

-Dion Chrystostom-

 

 

Old things become new with

The passage of time.

-Nicostratus-

 

 

Better learn late,

Than not at all.

-Cleobulus-

 

 

The crowd is the most unreliable

And witless thing

In the world.

-Demosthenes-

 

 

Man is the measure of the

Universe.

-Protagoras-

 

 

It will not always be summer:

Gather the harvest

While you can.

-Hesiod-

 

 

Misfortunes are less sharp

When shared with others.

-Dion Chrysostom-

 

 

Our country is the country

In which we prosper most.

-Aristophanes-

 

 

Win by persuasion,

Not by force.

-Bias-

 

 

Women know everything

About everything.

-Theocritus-

 

 

Poverty teaches manners.

-Antiphanes-

 

 

Grey hairs are proof of age,

But not of wisdom.

-Menander-

 

 

Travel sharpens the wits.

-Greek Proverb-

 

 

Pride goes before a fall.

-Greek Proverb-

 

 

None love life as much as those

Who are growing old.

-Sophocles-

 

 

Life is short,

Art is long.

-Hipoocrates-

 

 

To be over-busy

Is a witless task.

-Greek Proverb-

 

 

To little men the gods

Send little things.

-Callimachus-

 

 

What is good to know

Is difficult to learn.

-Greek Proverb-

 

 

Necessity teaches wisdom

Even to the stupid.

-Euripides-

 

 

Never tell your wife

All you know.

-Homer-

 

 

Many drops make up the rain.

-Greek Proverb-

 

 

Gold is useless to the dead.

-Aeschylus-

 

 

He who doesn't find a little

Enough,

Will find nothing enough.

-Epicurus-

 

 

It is sweet to view the sea,

When standing on the shore.

-Archippus-