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Explore 272 quotes by people from Greece

In revolutions the occasions may be trifling but great interests are at stake.

Aristotle

Politics

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Topic

Causes of revolution Revolution

Author

Aristotle

Source

Politics

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

350 BC 350s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aristotle. Politics. 4th century BC, bk. 5.

Current Citation

Aristotle. Politics, translated by R. F. Stalley and Sir Ernest Barker. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 5.

Man is a prisoner who has no right to open the door of his prison and run away…a man should wait, and not take his own life until God summons him.

Socrates

Quoted in Phaedo, by Plato

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Topic

Suicide

Speaker

Socrates

Author

Plato

Source

Phaedo

Medium

Philosophical dialogue Dialogue

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

360 BC 360s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Socrates. Quoted in Φαίδων [Phaedo], written by Plato. c. 360 BC.

Current Citation

Socrates. Quoted in "Phaedo." Plato: Five Dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo, written by Plato, translated by G. M. A. Grube and John M. Cooper. Hackett Publishing, 2002.

For where is goodwill greater than from guest to host?

Aeschylus

The Libation Bearers

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Topic

Hospitality Guests and visitors

Speaker

Orestes

Author

Aeschylus

Source

The Libation Bearers

Medium

Play

Genre

Greek tragedy Tragedy (play)

Language

Greek

Time

458 BC 450s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aeschylus. The Libation Bearers. c. 458 BC, Athens, Greece.

Current Citation

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

Inferiors revolt in order that they may be equal and equals that they might be superior. Such is the state of mind which creates revolutions.

Aristotle

Politics

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Topic

Causes of revolution Revolution

Author

Aristotle

Source

Politics

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

350 BC 350s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aristotle. Politics. 4th century BC, bk. 5.

Current Citation

Aristotle. Politics, translated by R. F. Stalley and Sir Ernest Barker. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 5.

A generation of men is like a generation of leaves: the wind scatters some leaves upon the ground, while others the burgeoning wood brings forth-and the season of spring comes on. So of men one generation springs forth and another ceases.

Homer

The Iliad

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Topic

Circle of life

Author

Homer

Source

The Iliad

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ἰλιάς [The Iliad], edited by Demetrius Chalcondyles. Florence: Bernardus Nerlius and Demetrius Damilas, 1489, bk. 6, l. 146-150.

Current Citation

Homer. The Iliad, translated by Robert Fitzgerald. Oxford University Press, 2014, bk. 6, l. 146-150.

Tell me, Muse, of the man of many devices, who wandered far and wide after he had sacked Troy's sacred city, and saw the towns of many men and knew their mind.

Homer

The Odyssey

On Odysseus.

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Author

Homer

Source

The Odyssey

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Statement Type

Opening lines

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ὀδύσσεια [Odyssey]. c. 710 BC, bk. 1, l. 1-4.

Current Citation

Homer. The Odyssey, edited by Bernard Knox, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2006, bk. 1, l. 1-4.

If you were prepared to let me go on those terms, I should reply to you as follows: "I have the greatest fondness and affection for you, fellow Athenians, but I will obey my god rather than you."

Socrates

Quoted in Apology, by Plato

On his unwillingness to give up practicing philosophy.

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Topic

Philosophy

Speaker

Socrates

Author

Plato

Source

Apology

Medium

Courtroom speech Speech

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

399 BC 390s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Plato. Ἀπολογία Σωκράτους [Apology of Socrates]. Speech of legal self-defence which Socrates spoke at his trial for impiety and corruption. 399 BC, Athens, Greece.

Current Citation

Plato. "Apology." Plato: Euthyphro; Apology; Crito; Phaedo, translated by Christopher Emlyn-Jones and William Preddy. Harvard University Press, 2017.

You cannot conceive the many without the one.

Plato

Parmenides

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Topic

Monism Philosophical theory

Author

Plato

Source

Parmenides

Medium

Philosophical dialogue Dialogue

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

Greek

Time

340 BC 340s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Plato. Παρμενίδης [Parmenides]. 4th century BC.

Current Citation

Plato. Parmenides, translated by Andre Schuwer and Richard Rojcewicz. Indiana University Press, 1998.

It is no cause for anger that the Trojans and the well-greaved Achaeans have suffered for so long over such a woman: she is wondrously like the immortal goddesses to look upon.

Homer

The Iliad

On Helen of Troy.

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Topic

Women's attractiveness

Speaker

The Trojans

Author

Homer

Source

The Iliad

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ἰλιάς [The Iliad], edited by Demetrius Chalcondyles. Florence: Bernardus Nerlius and Demetrius Damilas, 1489, bk. 3, l. 156.

Current Citation

Homer. The Iliad, translated by Robert Fitzgerald. Oxford University Press, 2014, bk. 3, l. 156.

The immortals will send you to the Elysian plain at the ends of the earth, where fair-haired Rhadamanthys is. There life is supremely easy for men. No snow is there, nor ever heavy winter storm, nor rain, and Ocean is ever sending gusts of the clear-blowing west wind to bring coolness to men.

Homer

The Odyssey

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Topic

Elysian Fields The afterlife

Author

Homer

Source

The Odyssey

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ὀδύσσεια [Odyssey]. c. 710 BC, bk. 4, l. 563-568.

Current Citation

Homer. The Odyssey, edited by Bernard Knox, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2006, bk. 4, l. 563-568.

Misfortune shows those who are not really friends.

Aristotle

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Topic

Adversity Tests of friendship Friend

Author

Aristotle

Source

Eudemian Ethics

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

350 BC 350s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aristotle. Ἠθικὰ Εὐδήμεια [Eudemian Ethics]. c. 350 BC.

Current Citation

Aristotle. The Eudemian Ethics, translated by Anthony Kenny. Oxford University Press, 2011.

He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must either be a beast or a god.

Aristotle

Politics

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Topic

Man as social animal Man and animals

Author

Aristotle

Source

Politics

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

350 BC 350s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Aristotle. Politics. 4th century BC, bk. 1.

Current Citation

Aristotle. Politics, translated by R. F. Stalley and Sir Ernest Barker. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 1.

I would rather be tied to the soil as another man's serf, even a poor man's, who hadn't much to live on himself, than be King of all these the dead and destroyed.

Homer

The Odyssey

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Topic

Life is precious Life and death

Speaker

Odysseus

Author

Homer

Source

The Odyssey

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ὀδύσσεια [Odyssey]. c. 710 BC, bk. 11, l. 489-491.

Current Citation

Homer. The Odyssey, edited by Bernard Knox, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2006, bk. 11, l. 489-491.

It is equally wrong to speed a guest who does not want to go, and to keep one back who is eager. You ought to make welcome the present guest, and send forth the one who wishes to go.

Homer

The Odyssey

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Topic

Hospitality Guests and visitors

Author

Homer

Source

The Odyssey

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Greek

Time

700 BC 700s BC 8th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Homer. Ὀδύσσεια [Odyssey]. c. 710 BC, bk. 15, l. 72-74.

Current Citation

Homer. The Odyssey, edited by Bernard Knox, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2006, bk. 15, l. 72-74.

Time crumbles things; everything grows old under the power of time and is forgotten through the lapse of time.

Aristotle

Physics

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Topic

Ravages of time Effects of time Time

Author

Aristotle

Source

Physics

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

Greek

Time

350 BC 350s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aristotle. Φυσικὴ ἀκρόασις Phusike akroasis [Physics]. 4th century BC.

Current Citation

Aristotle. Physics, translated by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, 2008.

Who has knowledge of what is to be dreaded and what is not—the man whom I call courageous?

Nicias

Quoted in Laches, by Plato

More information about this quote

Topic

Courage vs. fear Courage

Speaker

Nicias

Author

Plato

Source

Laches

Medium

Philosophical dialogue Dialogue

Statement Type

Definition

Language

Greek

Time

380 BC 380s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Nicias. Quoted in Λάχης [Laches], written by Plato. c. 348 BC, sect. 195d.

Current Citation

Nicias. Quoted in "Laches." Plato: Complete Works, edited by John M. Cooper and D. S. Hutchinson. Hackett Publishing, 1997, sect. 195d.

It is perfectly certain that the soul is immortal and imperishable, and our souls will actually exist in another world.

Socrates

Quoted in Phaedo, by Plato

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Topic

The soul The afterlife

Speaker

Socrates

Author

Plato

Source

Phaedo

Medium

Philosophical dialogue Dialogue

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

347 BC 340s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Socrates. Quoted in Φαίδων [Phaedo], written by Plato. c. 360 BC.

Current Citation

Socrates. Quoted in "Phaedo." Plato: Five Dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo, written by Plato, translated by G. M. A. Grube and John M. Cooper. Hackett Publishing, 2002.

We secure our friends not by accepting favors, but by doing them.

Pericles

Quoted in Funeral Oration, by Thucydides

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Topic

Allies

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 the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it. The beginning of reform is not so much to equalize property as to train the noble sort of natures not to desire more, and to prevent the lower from getting more.

Aristotle

Politics

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Topic

Acquisitiveness Desire Materialism Attachment (Buddhism) Redistribution of resources

Author

Aristotle

Source

Politics

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

350 BC 350s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aristotle. Politics. 4th century BC, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Aristotle. Politics, translated by R. F. Stalley and Sir Ernest Barker. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 2.

Who told them
that they were dead.

Aeschylus

The Suppliant Maidens

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Topic

Foreigners Xenophobia Immigration

Speaker

Chorus (Greek drama)

Author

Aeschylus

Source

The Suppliant Maidens

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragic play Greek theater

Language

Greek

Time

5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Aeschylus. Ἱκέτιδες, Hiketides [The Suppliants]. c. 455 BC.