Hesiod Quotes

Do not get a name as overly lavish or too inhospitable.

There was not after all a single kind of strife, but on earth there are two kinds: one of them a man might praise when he recognized her, but the other is blameworthy.

The dawn speeds a man on his journey, and speeds him too in his work.

A day is sometimes our mother, sometimes our stepmother.

Evil can be got very easily and exists in quantity: the road to her is very smooth, and she lives near by. But between us and virtue the gods have placed the sweat of our brows; the road to her is long and steep, and it is rough at first; but when a man has reached the top, then she is easy to attain, although before she was hard.

Keep adding little by little and it will become a big heap.

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.

And the evil wish is most evil to the wisher.

We know how to speak many falsehoods that resemble real things, but we know, when we will, how to speak true things.

Invite your friend to a feast, but leave your enemy alone; and especially invite the one who lives near you.

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.

Let it please thee to keep in order a moderate-sized farm, that so thy garners may be full of fruits in their season.

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.

If you speak evil, you will soon be worse spoken of.

Drink your fill when the jar is first opened, and when it is nearly done, but be sparing when it is half-empty; it's a poor savingwhen you come to the dregs.

At the beginning of the cask and the end take thy fill but be saving in the middle; for at the bottom the savings comes too late.

The man who does evil to another does evil to himself, and the evil counsel is most evil for him who counsels it.

Of themselves diseases come upon men continually by day and by night, bringing mischief to mortals silently; for wise Zeus took away speech from them. So is there no way to escape the will of Zeus

A sparing tongue is the greatest treasure among men.

The potter is at enmity with the potter.

In the race for wealth, a neighbor tries to outdo his neighbor, but this strife is good for men. For the potter envies potter, and the carpenter the carpenter, and the beggar rivals the beggar, and the singer the singer.

False shame accompanies a man that is poor, shame that either harms a man greatly or profits him; shame is with poverty, but confidence with wealth.

I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on the frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words. When I was a boy, we were taught to be discrete and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise and impatient of restraint.

Plan harm for another and harm yourself most, The evil we hatch always comes home to roost.

For both faith and want of faith have destroyed men alike.

Whoever, fleeing marriage and the sorrows that women cause, does not wish to wed comes to a deadly old age.

Invite your friend to dinner; have nothing to do with your enemy.

But he who neither thinks for himself nor learns from others, is a failure as a man.

He for himself weaves woe who weaves for others woe, and evil counsel on the counselor recoils.

A bad neighbor is a misfortune, as much as a good one is a great blessing.

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.

Do not let any sweet-talking woman beguile your good sense with the fascination of her shape. It's your barn she's after.

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

The gods being always close to men perceive those who afflict others with unjust devices and do not fear the wrath of heaven.

From their eyelids as they glanced dripped love.

He is a fool who tries to match his strength with the stronger.

If you add a little to a little, and then do it again, soon that little shall be much.

But they who give straight judgements to strangers and to those of the land and do not transgress what is just, for them the city flourishes and its people prosper.

And Zeus will destroy this race of mortal men too, when they, at their birth, have grey hair on their temples.

Aegis-bearing Zeus has a design for each occasion, and mortals find this hard to comprehend.

Inhibition is no good provider for a needy man

Actions from youth, advice from the middle-aged, prayers from the aged.

Justice prevails over transgression when she comes to the end of the race.

It is not possible either to trick or escape the mind of Zeus.

Do not put your work off till to-morrow and the day after; for a sluggish worker does not fill his barn, nor one who puts off his work: industry makes work go well, but a man who puts off work is always at hand-grips with ruin.

It will not always be summer; build barns.

Hunger is an altogether fit companion for the idle man.

Do not seek dishonest gains: dishonest gains are losses.

So the people will pay the penalty for their kings' presumption, who, by devising evil, turn justice from her path with tortuous speech.

A bad neighbor is as great a calamity as a good one is a great advantage.

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.

No whispered rumours which the many spread can wholly perish.

Acquisition means life to miserable mortals.

Timeliness is best in all matters.

This man, I say, is most perfect who shall have understood everything for himself, after having devised what may be best afterward and unto the end.

... 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.

The fool learns by suffering.

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.

There is also an evil report; light, indeed, and easy to raise, but difficult to carry, and still more difficult to get rid of.

Man's chiefest treasure is a sparing tongue.

Night, having Sleep, the brother of Death.

The artist envies what the arties gains, The bard the rival bard's successful strains.

Happy is the man whom the Muses love: sweet speech flows from his mouth.

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.

Work is not a shame. Laziness is a shame.

The man who procrastinates is always struggling with misfortunes.

Aerial spirits, by great Jove design'd To be on earth the guardians of mankind: Invisible to mortal eyes they go, And mark our actions, good or bad, below: The immortal spies with watchful care preside, And thrice ten thousand round their charges glide: They can reward with glory or with gold, A power they by Divine permission hold.

Do not seek evil gains; evil gains are the equivalent of disaster

If you should put even a little on a little and should do this often, soon this would become big.

Often an entire city has suffered because of an evil man.

For now indeed is the race of iron; and men never cease from labour and sorrow by day and from perishing by night.

When you deal with your brother, be pleasant, but get a witness.

Whoever happens to give birth to mischievous children lives always with unending grief in his spirit and heart.

The fool knows after he's suffered.

Invite the man that loves thee to a feast, but let alone thine enemy.

Potter is jealous of potter, and craftsman of craftsman; and the poor have a grudge against the poor, and the poet against the poet.

Money is life to us wretched mortals.

Badness you can get easily, in quantity; the road is smooth, and it lies close by, But in front of excellence the immortal gods have put sweat, and long and steep is the way to it.

The half is greater than the whole.

A man who works evil against another works it really against himself, and bad advice is worst for the one who devised it

It is best to do things systematically, since we are only human, and disorder is our worst enemy.

He's only harming himself who's bent upon harming another

If anything, which ought not to happen, happens in your neighborhood, neighbors come as they are to help; relatives dress first.

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;

Neither make thy friend equal to a brother; but if thou shalt have made him so, be not the first to do him wrong.

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

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.

From the Heliconian Muses let us begin to sing, who hold the great and holy mount of Helicon, and dance on soft feet about the deep-blue spring and the altar of the almighty son of Cronos, and, when they have washed their tender bodies in Permessus or in the Horse's Spring or Olmeius, make their fair, lovely dances upon highest Helicon and move with vigorous feet. Thence they arise and go abroad by night, veiled in thick mist, and utter their song with lovely voice, praising Zeus the aegis-holder and queenly Hera of Argos who walks on golden sandals and the daughter of Zeus the aegis-holder bright-eyed Athene, and Phoebus Apollo, and Artemis who delights in arrows, and Poseidon the earth-holder who shakes the earth, and reverend Themis and quick-glancing Aphrodite, and Hebe with the crown of gold, and fair Dione, Leto, Iapetus, and Cronos the crafty counsellor, Eos and great Helius and bright Selene, Earth too, and great Oceanus, and dark Night, and the holy race of all the other deathless ones that are for ever. And one day they taught Hesiod glorious song while he was shepherding his lambs under holy Helicon, and this word first the goddesses said to me - the Muses of Olympus, daughters of Zeus who holds the aegis: 'Shepherds of the wilderness, wretched things of shame, mere bellies, we know how to speak many false things as though they were true; but we know, when we will, to utter true things'.

Admire a small ship, but put your freight in a large one; for the larger the load, the greater will be the profit upon profit.

Preserve the mean; the opportune moment is best in all things.

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

For a man can win nothing better than a good wife, and nothing more painful than a bad one.

Love those who love you, help those you help you, and give to those who give to you.