Index:Quotes

Μολὼν λαβέ → Come and take them
Plutarch, Apophthegmata Laconica 225C12

Γηράσκω δ᾽ αἰεὶ πολλὰ διδασκόμενος → I grow old always learning many things
Solon the Athenian

Ἐδιζησάμην ἐμεωυτόν → I searched out myself
Heraclitus, fr. 101B

Ἦθος ἀνθρώπῳ δαίμων → A man's character is his fate
Heraclitus, fr. B 119 Diels

Ἰχθύς ἐκ τῆς κεφαλῆς ὄζειν ἄρχεται → The fish stinks from the head
Michael Apostolius Paroemiographus, Paroemiae

Σκιᾶς ὄναρ ἄνθρωπος → Man is a dream of a shadow
Pindar, Pythian, 8.95f.

Φιλοκαλοῦμέν τε γὰρ μετ' εὐτελείας καὶ φιλοσοφοῦμεν ἄνευ μαλακίας → Our love of what is beautiful does not lead to extravagance; our love of the things of the mind does not makes us soft.
Τhucydides, 2.40.1

Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ → The fool laughs even when there's nothing to laugh at
Menander

Δύο γὰρ, ἐπιστήμη τε καὶ δόξα, ὧν τὸ μὲν ἐπίστασθαι ποιέει, τὸ δὲ ἀγνοεῖν → Two different things are science and belief: the one brings knowledge, the other ignorance
Hippocrates

Δῶς μοι πᾶ στῶ καὶ τὰν γᾶν κινάσω → Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth.
Archimedes

Ἐὰν ᾖς φιλομαθής, ἔσει πολυμαθής → If you are studious, you will become learned.
Isocrates, 1.18

Ἓν οἶδα, ὅτι οὐδὲν οἶδα → I know only one thing, that I know nothing | all I know is that I know nothing.
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Philosophers, Book 2 sec. 32.

Ἔρως ἀνίκατε μάχαν → O love, invincible in battle!
Sophocles, Antigone, 781

Ἐς δὲ τὰ ἔσχατα νουσήματα αἱ ἔσχαται θεραπεῖαι ἐς ἀκριβείην, κράτισται → For extreme diseases, extreme methods of cure, as to restriction, are most suitable.
Corpus Hippocraticum, Aphorisms 1.6.2

Ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς → Either with this or on this | Come back victorious or dead
Plutarch, Moralia, 241

Μὴ φῦναι τὸν ἅπαντα νικᾷ λόγον → Not to be born is, past all prizing, best.
Sophocles, Oedipus Coloneus l. 1225

Μή, φίλα ψυχά, βίον ἀθάνατον σπεῦδε, τὰν δ' ἔμπρακτον ἄντλει μαχανάν → Oh! my soul do not aspire to eternal life, but exhaust the limits of the possible
Pindar, Pythian, 3.61f.

Ὁ κόσμος σκηνή, ὁ βίος πάροδος· ἦλθες, εἶδες, ἀπῆλθες → The world is a stage, life is a performance, you came, you saw, you departed
Democritus, fr. 115 D-K

Ὁ δ' ἀνεξέταστος βίος οὐ βιωτὸς ἀνθρώπῳ → The unexamined life is not worth living
Plato, Apology of Socrates 38a

Ὀίκοι μένειν δεῖ τὸν καλῶς εὐδαίμονα → The person who is well satisfied should stay at home.
Aeschylus, fr. 317

Ὃν οἱ θεοὶ φιλοῦσιν ἀποθνήσκει νέος → He whom the gods love dies young
Menander, fr. 125

Ὄττω τις ἔραται → Whatever one loves best | Whom you desire most
Sappho

Οὔτοι συνέχθειν, ἀλλὰ συμφιλεῖν ἔφυν → I was not born to hate, but to love.
Sophocles, Antigone, 523

Τὰ πάντα ῥεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει → Everything flows and nothing stands still
Heraclitus

Τὸ νικᾶν αὐτὸν αὑτὸν πασῶν νικῶν πρώτη τε καὶ ἀρίστη → The first and best victory is to conquer self.
Plato, Laws, 626e

Τοῦ ὅλου οὖν τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ καὶ διώξει ἔρως ὄνομα → Love is the name for our pursuit of wholeness, for our desire to be complete
Plato, Symposium, 192e10

Φοβοῦ τὸ γῆρας, οὐ γὰρ ἔρχεται μόνον → Fear old age, for it never comes alone
Menander

Ὦ ξεῖν’, ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε κείμεθα τοῖς κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι. → Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here, obedient to their laws, we lie.
Simonides of Kea

Ὠς χαρίεν ἔστʹ ἄνθρωπος, ὅταν ἄνθρωπος ᾗ → What a fine thing a human is, when truly human!
Menander, fragment 761

Ὁ δὲ μὴ δυνάμενος κοινωνεῖν ἢ μηδὲν δεόμενος δι' αὐτάρκειαν οὐθὲν μέρος πόλεως, ὥστε ἢ θηρίον ἢ θεός → Whoever is incapable of associating, or has no need to because of self-sufficiency, is no part of a state; so he is either a beast or a god
Aristotle, Politics, 1253a25

Ἀλλ’ ἐσθ’ ὁ θάνατος λοῖσθος ἰατρός κακῶν → But death is the ultimate healer of ills
Sophocles, Fragment 698

Ὦ τύμβος, ὦ νυμφεῖον, ὦ κατασκαφὴς οἴκησις αἰείφρουρος, οἷ πορεύομαι πρὸς τοὺς ἐμαυτῆς → Tomb, bridal chamber, eternal prison in the caverned rock, whither I go to find mine own.
Sophocles, Antigone, 883

Οὐδ' ἄμμε διακρινέει φιλότητος ἄλλο, πάρος θάνατόν γε μεμορμένον ἀμφικαλύψαι → Nor will anything else divide us from our love before the fate of death enshrouds us
Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica, 3.1129f.

Cras amet qui numquam amavit quique amavit cras amet → May he love tomorrow who has never loved before; And may he who has loved, love tomorrow as well.
Pervigilium Veneris

Ὤδινεν ὄρος, Ζεὺς δ' ἐφοβεῖτο, τὸ δ' ἔτεκεν μῦν → The mountain was in labor—even Zeus was afraid—but gave birth to a mouse
Theopompus, Sotades, etc

L'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle → Love that moves the sun and the other stars
Dante Alighieri, Paradiso, XXXIII, v. 145

Τὸ νικᾶν αὐτὸν αὑτὸν πασῶν νικῶν πρώτη τε καὶ ἀρίστη. Τὸ δὲ ἡττᾶσθαι αὐτὸν ὑφ' ἑαυτοῦ πάντων αἴσχιστόν τε ἅμα καὶ κάκιστον. → Τo conquer yourself is the first and best victory of all, while to be conquered by yourself is of all the most shameful as well as evil
Plato, Laws, 626e

Ubi idem et maximus et honestissimus amor est, aliquando praestat morte jungi, quam vita distrahi → Where indeed the greatest and most honourable love exists, it is much better to be joined by death, than separated by life.
Valerius Maximus, De Factis Dictisque

Χρὴ τῶν ἀγαθῶν διακναιομένων πενθεῖν ὅστις χρηστὸς ἀπ' ἀρχῆς νενόμισται → When a good man is hurt, all who would be called good must suffer with him
Euripides, Alcestis 109-11

Λύπης ἰατρός ἐστιν ὁ χρηστὸς φίλος – A true friend is grief's physician.
Menander, Sententiae, 456

Λύπης ἰατρός ἐστιν ἀνθρώποις λόγος – For men reason is a healer of grief – Für Menschen ist der Trauer Arzt allein das Wort – Maeroris unica medicina oratio.
Menander, Sententiae, 452

Ζῆν οὐκ ἄξιος, ὅτῳ μηδὲ εἷς ἐστι χρηστὸς φίλος → Life is not worth living if you do not have at least one friend.
Democritus, DK 68b22

Σκηνὴ πᾶς ὁ βίος καὶ παίγνιον: ἢ μάθε παίζειν, τὴν σπουδὴν μεταθείς, ἢ φέρε τὰς ὀδύνας → All life is a stage and a play: either learn to play laying your gravity aside, or bear with life's pains.
The Greek Anthology

Sunt verba voces quibus hunc lenire dolorem possis, magnam morbi deponere partem → Words will avail the wretched mind to ease and much abate the dismal black disease.
Horace, Epistles 1.34

Περὶ τοῦ ἐπέκεινα τοῦ νοῦ κατὰ μὲν νόησιν πολλὰ λέγεται, θεωρεῖται δὲ ἀνοησίᾳ κρείττονι νοήσεως → On the subject of that which is beyond intellect, many statements are made on the basis of intellection, but it may be immediately cognised only by means of a non-intellection superior to intellection
Porphyry, Sententiae, 25

Ποιητὴς, ὁπόταν ἐν τῷ τρίποδι τῆς Μούσης καθίζηται, τότε οὐκ ἔμφρων ἐστίν → Whenever a poet is seated on the Muses' tripod, he is not in his senses
Plato, Laws, 719c

Ἔοικα γοῦν τούτου γε σμικρῷ τινι αὐτῷ τούτῳ σοφώτερος εἶναι, ὅτι ἃ μὴ οἶδα οὐδὲ οἴομαι εἰδέναι → I seem, then, in just this little thing to be wiser than this man at any rate, that what I do not know I do not think I know either
Plato, Apology 21d

Μία χελιδὼν ἔαρ οὐ ποιεῖ → One swallow does not a summer make
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 1098a18

Νέµουσι δ' οἴκους καὶ τὰ ναυστολούµενα ἔσω δόµων σῴζουσιν, οὐδ' ἐρηµίᾳ γυναικὸς οἶκος εὐπινὴς οὐδ' ὄλβιος → They manage households, and save what is brought by sea within the home, and no house deprived of a woman can be tidy and prosperous
Euripides, Melanippe Captiva, Fragment 6.11

Ῥίζα γὰρ πάντων τῶν κακῶν ἐστιν ἡ φιλαργυρία → Root of all the evils is the love of money (Radix omnium malorum est cupiditas)
The Bible, 1 Timothy, 6:10

Οὐ γὰρ ἀργίας ὤνιον ἡ ὑγίεια καὶ ἀπραξίας, ἅ γε δὴ μέγιστα κακῶν ταῖς νόσοις πρόσεστι, καὶ οὐδὲν διαφέρει τοῦ τὰ ὄμματα τῷ μὴ διαβλέπειν καὶ τὴν φωνὴν τῷ μὴ φθέγγεσθαι φυλάττοντος ὁ τὴν ὑγίειαν ἀχρηστίᾳ καὶ ἡσυχίᾳ σῴζειν οἰόμενος → For health is not to be purchased by idleness and inactivity, which are the greatest evils attendant on sickness, and the man who thinks to conserve his health by uselessness and ease does not differ from him who guards his eyes by not seeing, and his voice by not speaking
Plutarch, Advice about Keeping Well, section 24

Ὁπόσον τῷ ποδὶ περρέχει τᾶς γᾶς, τοῦτο χάρις → Every inch of his stature is grace
Theocritus, Idylls, 30.3

Αὐτάρκης ἔσῃ, ἂν μάθῃς τί τὸ καλὸν κἀγαθόν ἐστι → You will be contented with your lot if you learn what the honourable and good is
Plutarch, De virtute et vitio

Οὔτ' ἐν φθιμένοις οὔτ' ἐν ζωοῖσιν ἀριθμουμένη, χωρὶς δή τινα τῶνδ' ἔχουσα μοῖραν → Neither among the dead nor the living do I count myself, having a lot apart from these
Euripides, Suppliants, 968

Θεοὶ μὲν γὰρ μελλόντων, ἄνθρωποι δὲ γιγνομένων, σοφοὶ δὲ προσιόντων αἰσθάνονται → Because gods perceive future things, men what is happening now, but wise men perceive approaching things
Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana, VIII, 7

Ὁ αὐτὸς ἔφησε τὸν μὲν ὕπνον ὀλιγοχρόνιον θάνατον, τὸν δὲ θάνατον πολυχρόνιον ὕπνον → Plato said that sleep was a short-lived death but death was a long-lived sleep
Gnomologium Vaticanum, 446

Quibus enim nihil est in ipsis opis ad bene beateque vivendum → Every age is burdensome to those who have no means of living well and happily
Cicero, de Senectute

Ὁ θάνατος οὐθὲν πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ἐπειδήπερ ὅταν μὲν ἡμεῖς ὦμεν, ὁ θάνατος οὐ πάρεστιν, ὅταν δὲ ὁ θάνατος παρῇ, τόθ' ἡμεῖς οὐκ ἐσμέν. → Death is nothing to us, since when we are, death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus

Ἀναβάντα γὰρ εἰς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν, καὶ διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς λύπης προσκόψαντα τῷ ζῆν, ἑαυτὸν κατακρημνίσαι → For he ascended the acropolis and then, because he was disgusted with life by reason of his excessive grief, cast himself down the height
Diodorus Siculus, 4.61.7

Ἐν δὲ δικαιοσύνῃ συλλήβδην πᾶσ' ἀρετὴ ἔνι → Justice contains in itself all the virtues
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 5.30

Χρὴ τῶν ἀγαθῶν διακναιομένων πενθεῖν ὅστις χρηστὸς ἀπ' ἀρχῆς νενόμισται → When a good man is hurt, all who would be called good must suffer with him
Euripides, Alcestis, 109-11

Μούνη γὰρ ἄγειν οὐκέτι σωκῶ λύπης ἀντίρροπον ἄχθος → I have no longer strength to bear alone the burden of grief that weighs me down
Sophocles, Electra, 119-120

Ἀδικία ἕξις ὑπεροπτικὴ νόμων → Injustice: the state of despising the laws
Plato, Definitions, 416a

Ἄνθρωπος ὢν ἥμαρτον· οὐ θαυμαστέον → Being human I made a mistake; there is nothing remarkable about it.
Menander, Fragmenta, 499

Gloria virtutem tanquam umbra sequitur → Glory follows virtue as if it were its shadow
Cicero, Tusculanarum Disputationum, I.45.109