Hesiod > Quotes

“But he who neither thinks for himself nor learns from others, is a failure as a man.”
― Hesiod, Works and Days and Theogony

“That man is best who sees the truth himself. Good too is he who listens to wise counsel. But who is neither wise himself nor willing to ponder wisdom is not worth a straw.”
― Hesiod

“A man who works evil against another works it really against himself, and bad advice is worst for the one who devised it”
― Hesiod, Works and Days

“He's only harming himself who's bent upon harming another”
― Hesiod, Theogony / Works and Days

“For a man can win nothing better than a good wife, and nothing more painful than a bad one.”
― Hesiod, Theogony / Works and Days

“Do not let any sweet-talking woman beguile your good sense with the fascination of her shape. It's your barn she's after.”
― Hesiod, The Works and Days / Theogony / The Shield of Herakles

“From their eyelids as they glanced dripped love.”
― Hesiod

“No gossip ever dies away entirely, if many people voice it: It too is a kind of divinity.”
― Hesiod

“Never wade through the pretty ripples
of perpetually flowing
rivers, until you have looked at their lovely waters,
and prayed to them,
and washed your hands in the pale enchanting water.”
― Hesiod, The Works and Days / Theogony / The Shield of Herakles

“…Perses, hear me out on justice, and take what I have to say to heart; cease thinking of violence. For the son of Kronos, Zeus, has ordained this law to men: that fishes and wild beasts and winged birds should devour one another, since there is no justice in them; but to mankind he gave justice which proves for the best.”
― Hesiod

“For here now is the age of iron. Never by daytime will there be an end to hard work and pain, nor in the night to weariness, when the gods will send anxieties to trouble us.”
― Hesiod, The Works and Days / Theogony / The Shield of Herakles

“He is happy whom the Muses love. For though a man has sorrow and grief in his soul, yet when the servant of the Muses sings, at once he forgets his dark thoughts and remembers not his troubles. Such is the holy gift of the Muses to men.”
― Hesiod

“Often a whole community together suffers in consequence of a bad man who does wrong and contrives evil”
― Hesiod

“So you, the kings, you too must reflect upon this punishment, because the immortals are here in the midst of manking, observing those who do not hold the gods in awe...but grind each other down with crooked judgements”
― Hesiod, Works and Days

“I mean you well, Perses, you great idiot, and I will tell you. Look, badness is easy to have, you can take it by handfuls without effort. The road that way is smooth and starts here beside you. But between us and virtue the immortals have put what will make us sweat. The road to virtue is long and goes steep up hill, hard climbing at first, but the last of it, when you get to the summit (if you get there) is easy going after the hard part.”
― Hesiod, The Works and Days / Theogony / The Shield of Herakles

“Never wade through the pretty ripples
of perpetually flowing
rivers, until you have looked at their lovely waters,
and prayed to them,
and washed your hands in the pale enchanting water”
― Hesiod

“Plan harm for another and harm yourself most, The evil we hatch always comes home to roost.”
― Hesiod, Works of Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns: Including Theogony and Works and Days

“And I wish that I were not any part of the fifth generation of men, but had died before it came, or been born afterward. For here now is the age of iron.”
― Hesiod

“If anything, which ought not to happen, happens in your neighborhood, neighbors come as they are to help; relatives dress first.”
― Hesiod, The Works and Days / Theogony / The Shield of Herakles

“Badness can be got easily and in shoals; the road to her is smooth, and she lives very near us. But between us and Goodness the gods have placed the sweat of our brows;”
― Hesiod, The Complete Hesiod Collection

“It is best to work, at whatever you have a talent for doing, without turning your greedy thought toward what some other man possesses, but take care of your own livelihood, as I advise you.”
― Hesiod, The Works and Days / Theogony / The Shield of Herakles

“It is from work that men are rich in flocks and wealthy, and a working man is much dearer to the immortals”
― Hesiod

“Better marry a maiden, so you can teach her good manners, and in particular marry one who lives close by you. Look her well over first. Don't marry what will make your neighbors laugh at you, for while there's nothing better a man can win him than a good wife, there's nothing more dismal than a bad one.”
― Hesiod, The Works and Days / Theogony / The Shield of Herakles

“The best treasure a man can have is a sparing tongue, and the greatest pleasure, one that moves orderly; for if you speak evil, you yourself will soon be worse spoken of.”
― Hesiod, Works of Hesiod, Homerica and the Homeric Hymns : The New Illustrated Edition

“Never procrastinate. Never say you’ll do it tomorrow or the next day. Slow workers never fill their barns. Neither do procrastinators. Diligence does the job.”
― Hesiod, Work and Days

“It is fine to draw on what is on hand, and painful to have need and not have anything there; I warn you to be carful in this. When the bottle has just been opened, and when it's giving out, drink deep; be sparing when it's half-full; but it's useless to spare the fag end.”
― Hesiod, The Works and Days / Theogony / The Shield of Herakles

“Ο Έρως είναι ο αρχιτέκτονας του σύμπαντος.”
― Hesiod

“Do not piss as you stand and face the sun, but do it after the sun sets and before it rises, and even then do not be naked, for nights belong to the gods.
...
Sire your children when you return from a feast of the gods, not when you return from an ill-omened burial.
...
The sixth day of the month does not favor plants but is good for the birth of boys; it does not favor either the birth or the marriage of girls. But gelding of kids and lambs hurts less then.”
― Hesiod, Theogony / Works and Days

“El alba pone al hombre en camino, y lo pone también a trabajar.”
― Hesíodo

“But the woman unstopped the jar and let it all out, and brought grim cares upon mankind. Only Hope remained there..”
― Hesiod