Aeschylus Men Quotations

God lends a helping hand to the man who tries hard.

It is always in season for old men to learn.

I know how men in exile feed on dreams.

Ah, lives of men! When prosperous they glitter - Like a fair picture; when misfortune comes - A wet sponge at one blow has blurred the painting.

Destiny waits alike for the free man as well as for him enslaved by another's might.

It is not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath.

It is best for the wise man not to seem wise.

Unions in wedlock are perverted by the victory of shameless passion that masters the female among men and beasts.

God's most lordly gift to man is decency of mind.

Alas for the affairs of men! When they are fortunate you might compare them to a shadow; and if they are unfortunate, a wet sponge with one dash wipes the picture away.

Whenever a man makes haste, God too hastens with him.

The one knowing what is profitable, and not the man knowing many things, is wise.

Married love between man and woman is bigger than oaths guarded by right of nature.

Only when a man's life comes to its end in prosperity dare we pronounce him happy.

For children preserve the fame of a man after his death.

The man whose authority is recent is always stern.

For there is no defense for a man who, in the excess of his wealth, has kicked the great altar of Justice out of sight.

It is good even for old men to learn wisdom.

Self-will in the man who does not reckon wisely is by itself the weakest of all things.

If a man suffers ill, let it be without shame; for this is the only profit when we are dead. You will never say a good word about deeds that are evil and disgraceful.

What exists outside is a man's concern; let no woman give advice; and do no mischief within doors.

For not many men, the proverb saith, can love a friend whom fortune prospereth unenvying.

Old men are always young enough to learn with profit.

It is the nature of mortals to kick a fallen man.

ATHENA: There are two sides to this dispute. I've heard only one half the argument. (...) So you two parties, summon your witnesses, set out your proofs, with sworn evidence to back your stories. Once I've picked the finest men in Athens, I'll return. They'll rule fairly in this case, bound by a sworn oath to act with justice.

They sent forth men to battle, But no such men return; And home, to claim their welcome, Come ashes in an urn

Lustre of man walking proud beneath the sky diminishes to nothing and goes unregarded.

The unenvied man is not enviable.

It's a man's jobno place for women's plans here!what lies outside. Stay home and cause no trouble.

But when the dust has drunk the blood of men, no resurrection comes for one who's dead.

No man looks with love on deeds that to the high Gods hateful prove.

You'll see all other mortal sinners, the ones who flout the honor owed to gods or guests, or loving parents--you'll see them get the justice they deserve. For Hades holds men mightily to a strict accounting down below the earth; he sees all things, inscribes them within the book of his remembering.

Out of respect, a man must veil his words when talking with a woman, but with a man he can frankly say whatever's on his mind.

For Hades is mighty in calling men to account below the earth, and with a mind that records in tablets he surveys all things.

As long as there are men the bulwark is safe.

High fortune, this in man's eye is god and more than god is this.

Many men who transgress justice, honor appearance over reality.

Base men who prosper are unenviable.

Success! to thee, as to a God, men bend the knee.

When a man takes the road to destruction, the gods help him along.

Old men are children once again a dream that sways and wavers into the hard light of day.

Many among men are they who set high the show of honor, yet break justice.

For this our task hath Fate spun without fail to last for ever sure, that we on man weighed down with deeds of hate should follow till the earth his life immure. Nor when he dies can he boast of being truly free.

Beyond age, leaf withered, man goes three footed no stronger than a child is, a dream that falters in daylight.

When the black and mortal blood of man has fallen to the ground ... who then can sing spells to call it back again?

The man who boldly transgresses, amassing a great heap unjustly--by force, in time, he will strike his sail, when trouble seizes him as the yardarm is splintered. He calls on those who hear nothing and he struggles in the midst of the whirling waters. The god laughs at the hot-headed man, seeing him, who boasted that this would never happen, exhausted by distress without remedy and unable to surmount the cresting wave. He wrecks the happiness of his earlier life on the reef of Justice, and he perishes unwept, unseen.

God planteth in mortal men the cause of sin whensoever he wills utterly to destroy a house.

Unjustly men hate death, which is the greatest defence against their many ills.

In few men is it part of nature to respect a friend's prosperity without begrudging him.

Let there be wealth without tears; enough for the wise man who will ask no further.

For the marriage bed ordained by fate for men and women is stronger than an oath and guarded by Justice.

Old men, what are they? Fast fading the leaf, Three-footed they walk, yet frail as a child, As a dream set afloat in the daylight.

Success is man's god.

The great and amorous sky curved over the earth, and lay upon her as a pure lover. The rain, the humid flux descending from heaven for both man and animal, for both thick and strong, germinated the wheat, swelled the furrows with fecund mud and brought forth the buds in the orchards. And it is I who empowered these moist espousals, I the great Aphrodite ....

Tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.

Call no man happy till he is dead.

Few men have the natural strength to honor a friend's success without envy.

But I will place this carefully fed pig Within the crackling oven; and, I pray, What nicer dish can e'er be given to man.

The high strength of men knows no content with limitation.

When a man dies, flesh is frayed and broken in the fire, but not his will.

A man dies not for the many wounds that pierce his breast, unless it be that life's end keep pace with death, nor by sitting on his hearth at home doth he the more escape his appointed doom.

Nor does night conceal men's deeds of ill, but whatsoe'er thou dost, think that some God beholds it.

The man who does ill, ill must suffer too.

If a man should wanton walk with crime ... he shall find in death no great deliverance.

Alas, poor men, their destiny. When all goes well a shadow will overthrow it. If it be unkind one stroke of a wet sponge wipes all the picture out.

Watchful are the Gods of all Hands with slaughter stained. The black Furies wait, and when a man Has grown by luck, not justice, great, With sudden overturn of chance They wear him to a shade, and, cast Down to perdition, who shall save him?

But when once the earth has sucked up a dead man's blood, there is no way to raise him up.

Oaths are not the credit of men but men of oaths.

Good fortune is a god among men, and more than a god.