greek proverbs and quotes
Greek Proverbs and Quotes
Delve into the wisdom of the Greeks, and be inspired by it. You will definitely learn some precious lessons of your life through the various Greek proverbs and quotes.
"Men would live exceedingly quiet if these two words, mine and thine, were taken away."
―Anaxagoras
Leo Tolstoy once quoted, "Without Greek studies, there is no education." The Ancient Greeks have left for us, a legacy of their words of wisdom. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch, Epicurus, and Homer are just a few among the sonorous names, which shone on the skies of ancient Greece. Here are a few Greek quotes and proverbs, which stand testimony to their wisdom and understanding, and still continue to inspire the world.
"Know yourself!"
- Socrates
"Madness does not go to the mountains, it goes to people."
- Greek Proverb
"Pay attention to your enemies, for they are the first to discover your mistakes."
- Antisthenes
"Well begun is half done."
- Aristotle
"The camel does not see her own hump."
- Greek Proverb
"Wine and children speak the truth."
- Greek Proverb
"How you make your bed is how you are going to sleep."
- Greek Proverb
"Wait for the wisest of all counselors, time."
- Pericles
"Wellbeing is attained by little and little, and nevertheless is no little thing itself."
- Citium Zeno
"Where rage seeds, repentance reaps."
- Greek Proverb
"At the deaf man's door, knock as much as you like."
- Greek Proverb
"Whatever is good to know is difficult to learn."
- Greek Proverb
"Thou wilt find rest from vain fancies if thou doest every act in life as though it were thy last."
- Aristotle
"Son of old age, won't know his father."
- Greek Proverb
"The drowning man grips to his own hair."
- Greek Proverb
"Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises."
- Demosthenes
"An orator without judgment is a horse without a bridle."
- Theophrastus
"A lucky person is someone who plants pebbles and harvests potatoes."
- Greek Proverb
"Wisdom begins in wonder."
- Socrates
"The art of being a slave is to rule one's master."
- Diogenes of Sinope
"As a matter of self-preservation, a man needs good friends or ardent enemies, for the former instruct him and the latter take him to task."
- Diogenes
"He who cannot bear misfortune is truly unfortunate."
- Greek Proverb
"A miser and a liar bargain quickly."
- Greek Proverb
"The unexamined life is not worth living."
- Socrates
"Either dance well or quit the ballroom."
- Greek Proverb
"I send thee myrrh, not that thou mayest be by it perfumed, but it perfumed by thee."
- Greek Proverb
"He who laughs not in the morning, laughs not at noon."
- Greek Proverb
"Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
- Plato
"Be careful to leave your sons well-instructed rather than rich, for the hopes of the instructed are better than the wealth of the ignorant."
- Epictetus
"By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher."
- Socrates
"Those who aim at great deeds must also suffer greatly."
- Plutarch
"In order to please others, we lose our hold on our life's purpose."
- Epictetus
"Written laws are like spider's webs; they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor, but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful."
- Anacharsis
"He who becomes a sheep is eaten by the wolf."
- Greek Proverb
"Famous men have the whole earth as their memorial."
- Pericles
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all."
- Hypatia
"The wildest colts make the best horses."
- Plutarch
"If you do not expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail."
- Heraclitus
"Like that of leaves is a generation of men."
- Homer
"Man is the measure of all things."
- Protagoras
"Life is short, the art long."
- Hippocrates