Hesiod: Man

“That man is best who sees the truth himself. Good too is he who listens to wise counsel. But who is neither wise himself nor willing to ponder wisdom is not worth a straw.”

Hesiod

Wisdom , Truth

“But he who neither thinks for himself nor learns from others, is a failure as a man.”

Hesiod

Source: Works and Days and Theogony

Failure , Thinking , Learning

“A man who works evil against another works it really against himself, and bad advice is worst for the one who devised it”

Hesiod book Works and Days

Source: Works and Days

Evil

“The best treasure a man can have is a sparing tongue.”

Hesiod book Works and Days

Source: Works and Days (c. 700 BC), line 719.

“The man who trusts womankind trusts deceivers.”

Hesiod book Works and Days

Source: Works and Days (c. 700 BC), line 375.

“Often an entire city has suffered because of an evil man.”

Hesiod book Works and Days

Variant translation: Oft hath even a whole city reaped the evil fruit of a bad man.
Source: Works and Days (c. 700 BC), line 240.

Suffering , Evil

“This man, I say, is most perfect who shall have understood everything for himself, after having devised what may be best afterward and unto the end: and good again is he likewise who shall have complied with one advising him well: but whoso neither himself hath understanding, nor when he hears another, lays it to heart, he on the other hand is a worthless man.”

Hesiod book Works and Days

Source: Works and Days (c. 700 BC), line 293.

Understanding , Heart , Perfection

“The generation of the man who swears truly is better thenceforward.”

Hesiod book Works and Days

Source: Works and Days (c. 700 BC), line 285.

“Do not put your work off till to-morrow and the day after; for a sluggish worker does not fill his barn, nor one who puts off his work: industry makes work go well, but a man who puts off work is always at hand-grips with ruin.”

Hesiod book Works and Days

Source: Works and Days (c. 700 BC), line 410.

“There was not after all a single kind of strife, but on earth there are two kinds: one of them a man might praise when he recognized her, but the other is blameworthy.”

Hesiod book Works and Days

Source: Works and Days (c. 700 BC), line 11.

“The dawn speeds a man on his journey, and speeds him too in his work.”

Hesiod book Works and Days

Source: Works and Days (c. 700 BC), line 579.

Speed

“Invite the man that loves thee to a feast, but let alone thine enemy.”

Hesiod book Works and Days

Source: Works and Days (c. 700 BC), line 342.

Love

“For a man wins nothing better than a good wife, and, again, nothing worse than a bad one.”

Hesiod book Works and Days

Source: Works and Days (c. 700 BC), line 702.

“Diligence increaseth the fruit of toil. A dilatory man wrestles with losses.”

Hesiod book Works and Days

Source: Works and Days (c. 700 BC), line 412.

Loss