Welcome to our collection of quotes by Hesiod. We hope you enjoy pondering them and please share widely.
Wikipedia Summary for Hesiod
Hesiod (Greek: Ἡσίοδος Hēsíodos, 'he who emits the voice') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded as the first written poet in the Western tradition to regard himself as an individual persona with an active role to play in his subject. Ancient authors credited Hesiod and Homer with establishing Greek religious customs. Modern scholars refer to him as a major source on Greek mythology, farming techniques, early economic thought, archaic Greek astronomy and ancient time-keeping.
Giving is good, but taking is bad and brings death.
Man's chiefest treasure is a sparing tongue.
The dawn speeds a man on his journey, and speeds him too in his work.
For both faith and want of faith have destroyed men alike.
Marry a virgin, that thou mayest teach her discreet manners.
Senseless is he who fain would match himself
Against a stronger, for of victory
He's shorn, and to disgrace adds suffering.
Beggar is jealous of beggar, and minstrel of minstrel.
No gossip ever dies away entirely, if many people voice it: it, too, is a kind of divinity.
Do not get a name as overly lavish or too inhospitable.
If you add a little to a little and do this often, soon the little will become great.
There is also an evil report; light, indeed, and easy to raise, but difficult to carry, and still more difficult to get rid of.
Love, the fairest among the undying gods, who loosens the limbs of all gods and men,
conquers resolve and prudent counsel within the breast.
Gossip and rumor are evil; easy to lift up, heavy to carry, and hard to put down again.
No whispered rumours which the many spread can wholly perish.
He's only harming himself who's bent upon harming another.
The potter is at enmity with the potter.
Do not seek dishonest gains: dishonest gains are losses.
A man who works evil against another works it really against himself, and bad advice is worst for the one who devised it.
The artist envies what the arties gains, The bard the rival bard's successful strains.
Do not let any sweet-talking woman beguile your good sense with the fascinations of her shape. It's your barn she's after.
The gods being always close to men perceive those who afflict others with unjust devices and do not fear the wrath of heaven.
A bad neighbor is a misfortune, as much as a good one is a great blessing.
A sparing tongue is the greatest treasure among men.
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.
Actions from youth, advice from the middle-aged, prayers from the aged.
An income means life to wretched mortals, but it is a terrible fate to die among the waves.
For now indeed is the race of iron; and men never cease from labour and sorrow by day and from perishing by night.
The man who procrastinates is always struggling with misfortunes.
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.
The best man of all is he who knows everything himself. Good also the man who accepts another's sound advice; but the man who neither knows himself nor takes to hear what another says, he is no good at all.
Potter is potter's enemy, and craftsman is craftsman's rival; tramp is jealous of tramp, and singer of singer.
Timeliness is best in all matters.
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.
It is a hard thing for a man to be righteous, if the unrighteous man is to have the greater right.
Love, who is most beautiful among the immortal gods, the melter of limbs, overwhelms in their hearts the intelligence and wise counsel of all gods and all men.
Invite your friend to dinner; have nothing to do with your enemy.
Bacteria: The only culture some people have.
Inhibition is no good provider for a needy man, Inhibition, which does men great harm and great good. Inhibition attaches to poverty, boldness to wealth.
Inhibition is no good provider for a needy man.
He harms himself who does harm to another, and the evil plan is most harmful to the planner.
An evil plan does mischief to the planner.
He for himself weaves woe who weaves for others woe, and evil counsel on the counselor recoils.
Before the gates of excellence the high gods have placed sweat; long is the road thereto and rough and steep at first; but when the heights are reached, then there is ease, though grievously hard in the winning.
In front of excellence, the immortal gods have put sweat, and long and steep is the way to it.
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.
The man who is rich in fancy thinks that his wagon is already built; poor fool, he does not know that there are a hundred timbers to a wagon.
No day is wholly unproductive of good.
Money is life to us wretched mortals.
The Gods rank work above virtues.
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.
Aegis-bearing Zeus has a design for each occasion, and mortals find this hard to comprehend.
And Zeus will destroy this race of mortal men too, when they, at their birth, have grey hair on their temples.
It will not always be summer: build barns.
Work is not a shame. Laziness is a shame.
Plan harm for another and harm yourself most, The evil we hatch always comes home to roost.
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.
The man who procrastinates struggles with ruin.
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.
Try to take for a mate a person of your own neighborhood.
Often an entire city has suffered because of an evil man.
Acquisition means life to miserable mortals.
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.
Bring a wife home to your house when you are of the right age, not far short of 30 years, nor much above; this is the right time for marriage.
The fool knows after he's suffered.
Mortals grow swiftly in misfortune.
He is senseless who would match himself against a stronger man; for he is deprived of victory and adds suffering to disgrace.
Never make a companion equal to a brother.
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.
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.
Do not gain basely; base gain is equal to ruin.
If you should put even a little on a little and should do this often, soon this would become big.
How easily some light report is set about, but how difficult to bear.
If you add a little to a little, and then do it again, soon that little shall be much.
We know how to speak many falsehoods that resemble real things, but we know, when we will, how to speak true things.
The best is he who calls men to the best. And those who heed the call are also blessed. But worthless who call not, heed not, but rest.
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.
Wealth should not be seized, but the god-given is much better.
Whoever happens to give birth to mischievous children lives always with unending grief in his spirit and heart.
Potter is jealous of potter, and craftsman of craftsman; and the poor have a grudge against the poor, and the poet against the poet.
He fashions evil for himself who does evil to another, and an evil plan does mischief to the planner.
The man who does evil to another does evil to himself, and the evil counsel is most evil for him who counsels it.
Preserve the mean; the opportune moment is best in all things.
Do not let a flattering woman coax and wheedle you and deceive you; she is after your barn.
It will not always be summer; build barns.
Whoever has trusted a woman has trusted deceivers.
Often even a whole city suffers for a bad man who sins and contrives presumptuous deeds.
A bad neighbor is as great a calamity as a good one is a great advantage.
Justice prevails over transgression when she comes to the end of the race.
It is best to do things systematically, since we are only human, and disorder is our worst enemy.
Observe due measure, for right timing is in all things the most important factor.
Happy is the man whom the Muses love: sweet speech flows from his mouth.
It is not possible either to trick or escape the mind of Zeus.
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.
Whoever, fleeing marriage and the sorrows that women cause, does not wish to wed comes to a deadly old age.
Toil is no source of shame; idleness is shame.