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Hesiod Quotes (0-)
Poet
About Hesiod
Hesiod (Ἡσίοδος Hēsíodos) was an early Greek poet, believed to have lived around the year 700 BC.
Best Hesiod Quotes
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Explore our curated collection of the most famous and impactful Hesiod quotes.
“Diligence increaseth the fruit of toil. A dilatory man wrestles with losses.”
“Let the price fixed with a friend be sufficient, and even dealing with a brother call in witnesses, but laughingly.”
“Let it please thee to keep in order a moderate-sized farm, that so thy garners may be full of fruits in their season.”
“We know how to speak many falsehoods which resemble real things, but we know, when we will, how to speak true things.”
“Λιμὸς γάρ τοι πάμπαν ἀεργῷ σύμφορος ἀνδρί.
• Hunger is altogether a meet comrade for the sluggard.”
• Hunger is altogether a meet comrade for the sluggard.”
“And she conceived and bore to Zeus, who delights in the thunderbolt, two sons, Magnes and Macedon, rejoicing in horses, who dwell round about Pieria and Olympus.”
“Ἀνδρὸς δ᾽ εὐόρκου γενεὴ μετόπισθεν ἀμείνων.
• The generation of the man who swears truly is better thenceforward.”
• The generation of the man who swears truly is better thenceforward.”
Hesiod Quotes by Topic
Find exactly what you are looking for by browsing this categorized list of Hesiod quotes by topic.
Hesiod on Justice 2 quotes
“It's no good at all for a man to be just When the unjust man gets more than what's just.”
Hesiod on The public
Hesiod on Timing
Hesiod on Measurement
Hesiod on Envy
“The artist envies what the artist gains, The bard the rival bard's successful strains.”
Hesiod on Crime
Hesiod on Time
Hesiod on Evil
Hesiod on Original sin
“Only Hope was left within her unbreakable house, she remained under the lip of the jar, and did not fly away. Before [she could], Pandora replaced the lid of the jar. This was the will of aegis-bearing Zeus the Cloudgatherer.”
Hesiod on Phoenix
What Hesiod Said About Others
Discover personal opinions Hesiod shared regarding contemporaries.
Hesiod on Women 2 quotes
“And he called this woman Pandora, because all they who dwelt on Olympus gave each a gift, a plague to men who eat bread.”
Hesiod on Wives
Quotes About Hesiod
Gain deeper perspective through quotes about Hesiod from others.
Moses I. Finley on Hesiod
“"What was at the beginning?" Gigon said of Hesiod, "is the question of history precisely at the point where it turns into philosophy... The question Hesiod poses is no longer about the historical past, but about the beginning of what exists, the question of philosophical origins..." But "history" is wholly out of place here. Hesiod is foreshadowing the step from mythos to logos, and that step was not mediated by history. It bypassed history altogether. It moved from the timelessness of myth to the timelessness of metaphysics.”
Julian Jaynes on Hesiod
“The Works and Days expressed the present. The new poetry expresses the person in the present, the particular individual and how he is different from others. And celebrates the difference. And as it does so, we can trace a progressive filling out and stretching of the earlier preconscious hypostases into the mind space of consciousness.”
Disputed Quotes
Quotes attributed to Hesiod that are questionable.
“I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly disrespectful and impatient of restraint.”
About Hesiod
Hesiod (Ἡσίοδος Hēsíodos) was an early Greek poet, believed to have lived around the year 700 BC.