Euripidés Quotes page 2

“A coward turns away, but a brave man's choice is danger.”

Sisyphus, as translated by R. G. Bury, and revised by J. Garrett http://www.wku.edu/~jan.garrett/302/critias.htm Variant translation: He was a wise man who originated the idea of God.

Euripidés Iphigenia in Tauris

Iphigenia in Tauris (c. 412 BC) l. 114

“Light be the earth upon you, lightly rest.”

“Dionysus: He who believes needs no explanation.
Pentheus: What's the worth in believing worthless things?
Dionysus: Much worth, but not worth telling you, it seems.”

Source: Alcestis (438 BC), l. 462

“Naught is more hostile to a city than a despot; where he is, there are in the first place no laws common to all, but one man is tyrant, in whose keeping and in his alone the law resides, and in that case equality is at an end.”

Bacchae l. 472, as translated by Colin Teevan (2002)

Euripidés The Suppliants

Suppliants (tr. Edward P. Coleridge)

“A woman should be good for everything at home, but abroad good for nothing.”

“O lady, nobility is thine, and thy form is the reflection of thy nature!”

Meleager, Frag. 525

Euripidés Ion

Ion (c. 421-408 BC) l. 238

“The words of truth are naturally simple, and justice needs no subtle interpretations, for it has a fitness in itself”

Euripidés The Phoenician Women

ἁπλοῦς ὁ μῦθος τῆς ἀληθείας ἔφυ,
κοὐ ποικίλων δεῖ τἄνδιχ᾽ ἑρμηνευμάτων
Source: The Phoenician Women, Lines 469–470

“Humility, a sense of reverence before the sons of heaven — of all the prizes that a mortal man might win, these, I say, are wisest; these are best.”

“Only one thing, they say, competes in value with life, the possession of a heart blameless and good.”

Bacchæ l. 1150.

Euripidés Hippolytus

Source: Hippolytus (428 BC), lines 426-427; David Kovacs' translation

“Of troubles none is greater than to be robbed of one’s native land.”

“Cowards do not count in battle; they are there, but not in it.”

Variant translation (by Paul Roche): For nothing is like the sorrow or supersedes the sadness of losing your native land.
Source: Medea (431 BC), Line 653 (translated by David Kovacs: Perseus Digital Library)

“I sacrifice to no god save myself — And to my belly, greatest of deities.”

Meleager Frag. 523

Euripidés Cyclops

The Cyclops (c.424-23 BC)

“Good slaves [are affected by] the adversities of their masters”

“Woman is woman's natural ally.”

Bacchæ l. 1028
the original sentence does not contain any verb

Euripidés Alope

Alope, Frag. 109

“Chance fights ever on the side of the prudent.”

“I hold that mortal foolish who strives against the stress of necessity.”

Pirithous
Variant: Fortune truly helps those who are of good judgement.

“Slight not what's near through aiming at what's far.”

Hercules Furens l. 281

Euripidés Rhesus

Rhesus (c. 435 BC) line 482

“Never say that marriage has more of joy than pain.”

“Today's today. Tomorrow we may be
ourselves gone down the drain of Eternity.”

Source: Alcestis (438 BC), l. 238

“Events will take their course, it is no good of being angry at them; he is happiest who wisely turns them to the best account.”

Source: Alcestis (438 BC), l. 788

Euripidés Bellerophon

Bellerophon, Fragment 298; quoted in Plutarch's Morals : Ethical Essays (1888) edited and translated by Arthur Richard Shilleto, p. 293

“Man's best possession is a sympathetic wife.”

Euripidés Antigone

Antigone, Frag 164

“I have found power in the mysteries of thought,
exaltation in the changing of the Muses;
I have been versed in the reasonings of men;
but Fate is stronger than anything I have known.”

“The fountains of sacred rivers flow upwards.”

Source: Alcestis (438 BC), l. 962

“Moderation, the noblest gift of Heaven.”

Source: Medea (431 BC), Line 409

“The gods visit the sins of the fathers upon the children.”

Source: Medea (431 BC), Line 636

“The credit we get for wisdom is measured by our success.”

Phrixus, Frag. 970

Euripidés Hippolytus

Source: Hippolytus (428 BC), l. 701, translated by Edward P. Coleridge

“Sweet is the remembrance of troubles when you are in safety.”

Euripidés Andromeda

Andromeda

“Slow but sure moves the might of the gods.”

“I begin by taking. I shall find scholars later to demonstrate my perfect right.”

Bacchæ l. 882
Variant translation: Slowly but surely withal moveth the might of the gods.

“The nobly born must nobly meet his fate.”

Supposedly in The Suppliants.
Also attributed to Frederick the Great of Prussia.
Disputed

Euripidés Alcmene

Alcmene, Frag. 100

“I know, indeed, the evil of that I purpose; but my inclination gets the better of my judgment.”

“Where two discourse, if the one's anger rise,
The man who lets the contest fall is wise.”

Source: Medea (431 BC), Line 1078

“Time will explain it all. He is a talker, and needs no questioning before he speaks.”

Protesilaus Frag. 656

“The sweetest teaching did he introduce,
Concealing truth under untrue speech.
The place he spoke of as the gods' abode
Was that by which he might awe humans most, —
The place from which, he knew, terrors came to mortals
And things advantageous in their wearisome life —
The revolving heaven above, in which dwell
The lightnings, and awesome claps
Of thunder, and the starry face of heaven,
Beautiful and intricate by that wise craftsman Time, —
From which, too, the meteor's glowing mass speeds
And wet thunderstorm pours forth upon the earth.”

Æolus, Frag. 38

“A second wife is hateful to the children of the first; A viper is not more hateful.”

Sisyphus as translated by R. G. Bury, and revised by J. Garrett

“Of all things upon earth that bleed and grow,
A herb most bruised is woman.”

Source: Alcestis (438 BC), l. 309

“Thou didst bring me forth for all the Greeks in common, not for thyself alone.”

Source: Medea (431 BC), Lines 230–231 in Gilbert Murray's translation ( p. 15 https://archive.org/stream/medeatranslatedi00euriuoft#page/15/mode/1up)

Euripidés Iphigenia in Aulis

Iphigenia in Aulis, 1386

“Grievous for mortals is the stain of kindred blood. For the murderers are dogged by woes harmonious with their deeds, sent by the gods upon their houses.”

“Time cancels young pain.”

Source: Medea (431 BC), lines 1268-1270; David Kovacs' translation

“Life has no blessing like a prudent friend.”

Source: Alcestis (438 BC), l. 1085

“Along with success comes a reputation for wisdom.”