Hesiod Quotes (0-)

Poet

About Hesiod

Hesiod (Ἡσίοδος Hēsíodos) was an early Greek poet, believed to have lived around the year 700 BC.

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Explore our curated collection of the most famous and impactful Hesiod quotes.

“They died, as if o'ercome by sleep.”
Hesiod
“Night, having Sleep, the brother of Death.”
Hesiod
“From whose eyelids also as they gazed dropped love.”
“Γαστέρες οἶον.
• Mere bellies.”
“The dawn speeds a man on his journey, and speeds him too in his work.”
“Diligence increaseth the fruit of toil. A dilatory man wrestles with losses.”
Hesiod
“Invite the man that loves thee to a feast, but let alone thine enemy.”
“On the tongue of such an one they shed a honeyed dew, and from his lips drop gentle words.”
“Οἴκοι βέλτερον εἶναι.
• There's no place like home.”
“Παθὼν δέ τε νήπιος ἔγνω.
• Only when he has suffered does the fool learn.”
“Let the price fixed with a friend be sufficient, and even dealing with a brother call in witnesses, but laughingly.”
Hesiod
“Let it please thee to keep in order a moderate-sized farm, that so thy garners may be full of fruits in their season.”
“Neither make thy friend equal to a brother; but if thou shalt have made him so, be not the first to do him wrong.”
“Αἶψα γὰρ ἐν κακότητι βροτοὶ καταγηράσκουσιν.
• For in misery men grow old quickly.”
“We know how to speak many falsehoods which resemble real things, but we know, when we will, how to speak true things.”
“Οὐκ αἰεὶ θέρος ἐσσεῖται· ποιεῖσθε καλιάς.
• It will not always be summer, build barns.”
Hesiod
“Πίστεις ἄρ τοι ὁμῶς καὶ ἀπιστίαι ὤλεσαν ἄνδρας.
• For trust and mistrust, alike ruin men.”
Hesiod
“Ἄλλοτε μητρυιὴ πέλει ἡμέρη, ἄλλοτε μήτηρ.
• Sometimes a day is a step mother, sometimes a mother.”
“Λιμὸς γάρ τοι πάμπαν ἀεργῷ σύμφορος ἀνδρί.
• Hunger is altogether a meet comrade for the sluggard.”
“Ὃς δὲ γυναικὶ πέποιθε, πέποιθ᾽ ὅ γε φηλήτῃσιν.
• The man who trusts womankind trusts deceivers.”
“Ἔργον δ᾽ οὐδὲν ὄνειδος, ἀεργίη δέ τ᾽ ὄνειδος.
• Work is no disgrace; it is idleness which is a disgrace.”
Hesiod
“Ὣς οὐκ ἔστι Διὸς κλέψαι νόον οὐδὲ παρελθεῖν.
• It is not possible to deceive or go beyond the will of Zeus.”
“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.”
“Nήπιοι, οὐδὲ ἴσασιν ὅσῳ πλέον ἥμισυ παντός.
• Fools, they do not even know how much more is the half than the whole.”
Hesiod
“Ἀνδρὸς δ᾽ εὐόρκου γενεὴ μετόπισθεν ἀμείνων.
• The generation of the man who swears truly is better thenceforward.”
Hesiod

Hesiod Quotes by Topic

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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
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Hesiod on Speech

“In man speaks God.”
Hesiod

Hesiod on Wishes

“And the evil wish is most evil to the wisher.”
Hesiod

Hesiod on The public

“No whispered rumours which the many spread can wholly perish.”
Hesiod

Hesiod on Timing

“Observe due measure, for right timing is in all things the most important factor.”
Hesiod

Hesiod on Measurement

“Observe due measure, for right timing is in all things the most important factor.”
Hesiod

Hesiod on Envy

“The artist envies what the artist gains, The bard the rival bard's successful strains.”
Hesiod

Hesiod on Crime

“Plan harm for another and harm yourself most, the evil we hatch always comes home to roost.”
Hesiod

Hesiod on Time

“But what says the Greek? "In the morning of life, work; in the midday, give counsel; in the evening, pray."”
Hesiod

Hesiod on Evil

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

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

Hesiod on Phoenix

“A chattering crow lives out nine generations of aged men, but a stag's life is four time a crow's, and a raven's life makes three stags old, while the phoenix outlives nine ravens, but we, the rich-haired Nymphs daughters of Zeus the aegis-holder, outlive ten phoenixes.”
Hesiod

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
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Hesiod on Harry Emerson Fosdick

“The half is greater than the whole.”
Hesiod

Hesiod on Wives

“With caution choose the partner of your bed: Whom fifteen springs have crown'd, a virgin wed. Let prudence now direct your choice; a wife Is or a blessing, or a curse, in life; Her father, mother, know, relations, friends, For on her education much depends.”
Hesiod

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.”
Hesiod

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.”
Hesiod

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.”
“The gods have placed sweat as the price of all things.”

About Hesiod

Hesiod (Ἡσίοδος Hēsíodos) was an early Greek poet, believed to have lived around the year 700 BC.