“Take your fill when the cask is first opened and when it is nearly spent, but midways be sparing: it is poor saving when you come to the lees.”

— Hesiod, book Works and Days

Variant translation: At the beginning of the cask and at the end take thy fill, but be saving in the middle; for at the bottom saving comes too late.
Source: Works and Days (c. 700 BC), line 368 (translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White).

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Greek poet

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