5th century BC

Explore 159 quotes from the 5th century BC

Your great glory is not to be inferior to what God has made you, and the greatest glory of a woman is to be least talked about by men, whether they are praising you or criticizing you.

Pericles

Quoted in Funeral Oration, by Thucydides

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Topic

Patriarchy Oppression of women

Speaker

Pericles

Author

Thucydides

Source

Funeral Oration History of the Peloponnesian War

Genre

Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Pericles. Quoted in The History of the Peloponnesian War. c. 431 BC, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Pericles. Quoted in The Peloponnesian War, translated by Martin Hammond. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 2.

It is not better for men to get everything they want. Disease makes health pleasant and good, as hunger does being full, and weariness rest.

Heraclitus

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Topic

Wish fulfillment Balance Yin and yang

Author

Heraclitus

Medium

Presocratic fragment Fragment

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Xenophanes. Fragments. 5th century BC, F16 - DK22 B110.

Current Citation

Xenophanes. "Xenophanes of Colophon." The First Philosophers: The Presocratics and Sophists. Oxford World Classics, 2009, F16 - DK22 B110.

Neither anarchy nor tyranny—this I counsel my citizens to support and respect, and not to drive fear wholly out of the city. For who among mortals, if he fears nothing, is righteous?

Aeschylus

The Eumenides

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Topic

Deterring crime Crime Fear Justice Human nature

Speaker

Athena

Author

Aeschylus

Source

The Eumenides

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragic play Greek theater

Statement Type

Question

Language

Greek

Time

458 BC 450s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aeschylus. The Eumenides. 458 BC, The Dionysia, Athens, Greece.

Current Citation

Aeschylus. "The Eumenides." The Oresteia: Agamemnon; The Libation Bearers; The Eumenides, edited and translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 1984.

When men drink, then they are rich and successful and win lawsuits and are happy and help their friends. Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever.

Demosthenes

Knights

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Topic

Reasons to drink Alcohol Getting drunk

Speaker

Demosthenes

Author

Aristophanes

Source

Knights

Medium

Play

Genre

Comedy (play)

Language

Greek

Time

424 BC 420s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aristophanes. Ἱππεῖς Hippeîs [The Knights]. 424 BC, Lenaia Festival, Athens, Greece.

Current Citation

Aristophanes. "The Knights." The Birds and Other Plays, translated by Alan H. Sommerstein. Penguin Classics, 2003.

Education is an ornament for the prosperous, a refuge for the unfortunate.

Democritus

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Topic

Value of education Education

Speaker

Democritus

Source

Tetralogies of Thrasyllus

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

Greek

Time

415 BC 410s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Democritus. Tetralogies of Thrasyllus. c. 420 BC, Fr. 180.

Current Citation

Democritus. Quoted in Ancilla to Pre-Socratic Philosophers, written and translated by Kathleen Freeman. Harvard University Press, 1983.

If one were to order all mankind to choose the best set of rules in the world, each group would, after due consideration, choose its own customs; each group regards its own as being by far the best.

Herodotus

Histories

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Topic

Ethnocentrism Human nature

Author

Herodotus

Source

Histories

Genre

Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Herodotus. Ἱστορίαι [Histories]. c. 430 BC, bk. 3, sect. 38.

Current Citation

Herodotus. The Histories, translated by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 3, sect. 38.

Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering.

Aeschylus

Agamemnon

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Topic

School of hard knocks Learning from mistakes Wisdom

Speaker

Chorus (Greek drama)

Author

Aeschylus

Source

Agamemnon

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragic play Greek theater

Language

Greek

Time

458 BC 450s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aeschylus. Agamemnon. 458 BCE, The Dionysia, Athens, Greece.

Current Citation

Aeschylus. "Agamemnon." The Oresteia: Agamemnon; The Libation Bearers; The Eumenides, edited and translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 1984.

There is one thing alone
that stands the brunt of life throughout its course:
a quiet conscience.

Euripides

Hippolytus

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Topic

Conscience Inner peace

Speaker

Phaedra

Author

Euripides

Source

Hippolytus

Medium

Play

Genre

Greek tragedy Tragedy (play)

Language

Greek

Time

428 BC 420s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Euripides. Ἱππόλυτος [Hippolytus]. 428 BC, City Dionysia festival, Athens, Greece.

Current Citation

Euripides. "Hippolytus." Euripides I: Alcestis, Medea, The Children of Heracles, Hippolytus, edited and translated by Richard Lattimore, et. al. University of Chicago Press, 2013.

But the bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding go out to meet it.

Pericles

Quoted in Funeral Oration, by Thucydides

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Topic

Bravery Courage Taking risks Going for it

Speaker

Pericles

Author

Thucydides

Source

Funeral Oration History of the Peloponnesian War

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Thucydides. The History of the Peloponnesian War. c. 431 BC, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Thucydides. The Peloponnesian War, translated by Martin Hammond. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 2.

War is father of all and king of all. Some he reveals as gods, other as men; some he makes slaves, other free.

Heraclitus

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Topic

War Fate

Author

Heraclitus

Medium

Presocratic fragment Fragment

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Heraclitus. Fragments. 5th century BC, F23 - DK B53.

Current Citation

Heraclitus. "Heraclitus of Ephesus." The First Philosophers: The Presocratics and Sophists, translated by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, 2009, F23 - DK B53.

Our constitution is named a democracy, because it is in the hands not of the few but of the many. But our laws secure equal justice for all in their private disputes, and our public opinion welcomes and honors talent in every branch of achievement, not for any sectional reason but on grounds of excellence alone. And as we give free play to all in our public life, so we care the same spirit into our daily relations with one another... Open and friendly in our private intercourse, in our public acts we keep strictly within the control of law. We acknowledge the restraint of authority, and to the laws, more especially to those which offer protection to the oppressed and those unwritten ordinances whose transgression brings admitted shame.

Pericles

Quoted in Funeral Oration, by Thucydides

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Topic

Democracy Rule of law

Speaker

Pericles

Author

Thucydides

Source

Funeral Oration History of the Peloponnesian War

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Thucydides. The History of the Peloponnesian War. c. 431 BC, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Thucydides. The Peloponnesian War, translated by Martin Hammond. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 2.

Fix your eyes on the greatness of Athens as you have it before you day by day, fall in love with her, and when you feel her great, remember that this greatness was won by men with courage, with knowledge of their duty, and with a sense of honor in action... So they gave their bodies to the commonwealth and received each for his own memory, praise that will never die, and with it the grandest of all memorials, not that in which their mortal bones are laid, but a home in the minds of men, where their glory remains fresh to stir to speech or action as the occasion comes fresh to stir to speech or action as the occasion comes by. For the whole earth is the memorial of famous men; and their story is not graven only on stone over their native earth, but lives on far away, without visible symbol, woven into the stuff of other men's lives.

Pericles

Quoted in Funeral Oration, by Thucydides

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Topic

Great men Heroes Dying for one's country

Speaker

Pericles

Author

Thucydides

Source

Funeral Oration History of the Peloponnesian War

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Thucydides. The History of the Peloponnesian War. c. 431 BC, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Thucydides. The Peloponnesian War, translated by Martin Hammond. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 2.

It is not possible with mortal mind to search out the purposes of the gods.

Pindar

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Topic

Inscrutability of God God's plan

Author

Pindar

Language

Greek

Time

438 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Pindar. Fragment 61. c. 418 BC.

Love, unconquerable,
Waster of rich men, keeper
Of warm lights and all-night vigil
In the soft face of a girl:
Sea-wanderer, forest-visitor!
Even the pure immortals cannot escape you,
And mortal man, in his one day's dusk,
Trembles before your glory.

Sophocles

Antigone

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Topic

Power of love Love

Speaker

Chorus

Author

Sophocles

Source

Antigone

Medium

Play

Genre

Greek tragedy Tragedy (play)

Language

Greek

Time

442 BC 440s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Sophocles. Ἀντιγόνη [Antigone]. c. 441 BC, Festival of Dionysus, Athens, Greece.

Current Citation

Sophocles. "Antigone." The Oedipus Cycle: Oedipus Rex; Oedipus at Colonus; Antigone, translated by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald. Mariner Books, 2002.

The opposite is beneficial; from things that differ comes the fairest attunement; all things are borne through strife.

Heraclitus

More information about this quote

Topic

Opposites Yin and yang

Author

Heraclitus

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

480 BC 480s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Heraclitus. On the Universe. c. 500 BC, no. 46.

Current Citation

Heraclitus. "On the Universe." Hippocrates, translated by W. H. S. Jones. Vol. 4, Harvard University Press, 1931, no. 46.

The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.

Psalm 115:17

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Topic

The afterlife Death Oblivion

Source

Psalms The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Hebrew

Time

450 BC 450s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (Psalm 115:17).

Love distills desire upon the eyes,
love brings bewitching grace into the heart
of those he would destroy.
I pray that love may never come to me
with murderous intent,
in rhythms measureless and wild.
Not fire nor stars have stronger bolts
than those of Aphrodite sent
by the hand of Eros, Zeus' child.

Euripides

Hippolytus

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Topic

Power of love Love

Speaker

Chorus

Author

Euripides

Source

Hippolytus

Medium

Play

Genre

Greek tragedy Tragedy (play)

Language

Greek

Time

428 BC 420s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Euripides. Ἱππόλυτος [Hippolytus]. 428 BC, City Dionysia festival, Athens, Greece.

Current Citation

Euripides. "Hippolytus." Euripides I: Alcestis, Medea, The Children of Heracles, Hippolytus, edited and translated by Richard Lattimore, et. al. University of Chicago Press, 2013.

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Psalm 51:5

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Topic

Original sin Human nature

Source

Psalms The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Hebrew

Time

450 BC 450s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (Psalm 51:5).

Creatures of a day. What is someone? What is no one? Man is the dream of a shadow. But when the brilliance given by Zeus comes, a shining light is on man, and a gentle lifetime.

Pindar

Pythian Odes

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Topic

Ephemeral nature of life God's favor

Author

Pindar

Source

Pythian Odes

Medium

Poem

Language

Greek

Time

446 BC 440s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Pindar. Pythian Odes. c. 474, pythian 8.

Current Citation

Pindar. The Complete Odes, translated by Anthony Verity. Oxford University Press, 2008, pythian 8.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Psalm 119:105

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Topic

God's word The Bible

Source

Psalms The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Hebrew

Time

450 BC 450s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (Psalm 119:105).