Aeschylus: Quotes about men

“Zeus, who guided mortals to be wise,
has established his fixed law—
wisdom comes through suffering.
Trouble, with its memories of pain,
drips in our hearts as we try to sleep,
so men against their will
learn to practice moderation.
Favours come to us from gods
seated on their solemn thrones—
such grace is harsh and violent.”

Aeschylus Agamemnon

Variant translations: Zeus has led us on to know, the Helmsman lays it down as law that we must suffer, suffer into truth. We cannot sleep, and drop by drop at the heart the pain of pain remembered comes again, and we resist, but ripeness comes as well. From the gods enthroned on the awesome rowing-bench there comes a violent love. Robert Fagles, The Oresteia (1975) God, whose law it is that he who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despite, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. Edith Hamilton, The Greek Way (1930), pp. 61 and 194 ( Google Books https://books.google.com/books?id=D3QwvF3GWOkC&lpg=PA61&ots=BacvHvGm6e&dq=%22And%20in%20our%20own%20despite%2C%20against%20our%20will%2C%20Comes%20wisdom%22%20-kennedy&pg=PA194#v=onepage&q=%22our%20own%20despite%22&f=false) Robert F. Kennedy quoted these lines in his speech announcing the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. on 4 April 1968. His version http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/rfkonmlkdeath.html: Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God. Variant translations of πάθει μάθος: By suffering comes wisdom. The reward of suffering is experience. Wisdom comes alone through suffering. Source: Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon, lines 176–183, as translated by Ian Johnston ( Google Books https://books.google.com/books?id=qz1HpBZ1fTwC&lpg=PA13&ots=C7aohrZRF1&dq=Drips%20in%20our%20hearts%20as%20we%20try%20to%20sleep%2C&pg=PA13#v=onepage&q=Drips%20in%20our%20hearts%20as%20we%20try%20to%20sleep,&f=false)

“And corpses, piled up like sand, shall witness,
Mute, even to the century to come,
Before the eyes of men, that never, being
Mortal, ought we cast our thoughts too high.”

Aeschylus The Persians

Source: The Persians (472 BC), lines 818–820 (tr. S. G. Benardete)

“The show of weeping and of ruth
To the forlorn will all men pay,
But of the grief their eyes display,
Nought to the heart doth pierce its way.
And, with the joyous, they beguile
Their lips unto a feigned smile.”

Aeschylus Agamemnon

Source: Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon, lines 790–794 (tr. E. D. A. Morshead)

“For love unlovely, when its evil spell
'Mong brutes or men the feebler sex befools,
Conjugial bands o'errules.”

Aeschylus The Libation Bearers

Source: Oresteia (458 BC), The Libation Bearers, lines 600–601 (tr. Anna Swanwick)

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

Aeschylus The Libation Bearers

Variant translation: Success is man's god.
Source: Oresteia (458 BC), The Libation Bearers, line 59

“It is in the character of very few men to honor without envy a friend who has prospered.”

Aeschylus Agamemnon

Source: Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon, lines 832–833

“I hold my own mind and think apart from other men.”

Aeschylus Agamemnon

Source: Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon, line 757

“Old men are always young enough to learn.”

Aeschylus Agamemnon

Variant translation: Learning is ever in the freshness of its youth, even for the old. Source: Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon, line 584 ( line 583 of Richmond Lattimore's translation http://books.google.com/books?id=3duN7nP3OQYC&q=%22old+men+are+always+young+enough+to+learn%22&pg=PA40#v=onepage)

“I know how men in exile feed on dreams of hope.”

Aeschylus Agamemnon

Source: Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon, line 1668

“It is good even for old men to learn wisdom.”

Aeschylus