Skip to content

Theognis of Megara Quotes

Greece

Theognis of Megara (fl. 6th century BC) was an ancient Greek poet. More than half of the elegiac poetry of Greece before the Alexandrian period is included in the 1,400 lines ascribed to Theognis.

Greece
Poets

Also known as: Theognis

Random Theognis of Megara quote

34 quotes

The deckhands are in control, and the base have the upper hand over the noble.

Don't wag the tail of life if it goes well,
But leave in undisturbed. If it should go
Badly, rock it until it straightens up.

An ox with heavy foot upon my tongue
Forbids my chattering, although I know.

Unless the gods deceive my mind,
That man is forging fetters for himself.

The lucky man is honoured by the gods
And by his critics with their envious blame,
But earnest striving wins no praise at all.

Best of all for mortal beings is never to have been born at all. Nor ever to have set eyes on the bright light of the sun.

Bright youth passes swiftly as a thought.

The best of all things for earthly men is not to be born and not to see the beams of the bright sun; but if born, then as quickly as possible to pass the gates of Hades, and to lie deep buried.

βούλεο δ᾿ εὐσεβέων ὀλίγοις σὺν χρήμασιν οἰκεῖν
ἢ πλουτεῖν ἀδίκως χρήματα πασάμενος.

The lucky man is honored ...
But earnest striving wins no praise at all.

A young wife suits not with an aged husband;
For she will not obey the pilot's helm
Like a well-managed boat; nor can the anchor
Hold her securely in her port, but oft
She breaks her chains and cables in the night,
And headlong drives into another harbour.

Many bad men are rich, many good men are poor. But we will not exchange wealth for virtue along with them. One man has money now, another has money at another time. Money goes around, whereas virtue endures.

To every man a different woe; on one
Who's truly happy ne'er the sun looks down. (tr. H. B. Harbottle, 1897)

Those things are past, undone they cannot be,
But what's to come watch thou with anxious care. (tr. H. B. Harbottle, 1897)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Theognis of Megara (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.