Hezjod cytaty

strona 2

„Kobieta jest plagą o mózgu suki.”

„Najpierw stworzyli na ziemi szerokiej niebiescy bogowie
To pokolenie, co złotym ludzkości okresem się zowie.
(…) Żyli zaś niby bogowie nie będąc nigdy w potrzebie,
Pracy ni trudów nie znając, ni cierpień przykrej starości,
Ani w nogach ni w rękach nie tracąc młodzieńczej świeżości.
Żyli w dostatku radośnie, od wszelkich cierpień z daleka.”

„Na każdą kobietę, która robi z mężczyzny durnia, przypada kobieta, która z durnia zrobi mężczyznę.”

„Żadna plotka nie umiera do końca, jeżeli powtórzy ją wielu ludzi: to też jest rodzaj nieśmiertelności.”

„Największym skarbem człowieka jest powściągliwy język, a największa przyjemność to posługiwanie się nim z umiarem.”

„Kobiety chętnie dzielą z nami słodycze życia, ale niechętnie dzielą smutek i ubóstwo.”

„Człowiek przezorny ma w domu kobietę kupioną, ale nie poślubioną.”

„Nie praca jest hańbą, ale próżnowanie.”

„Głos ludu głosem Boga.”

„Praca nie hańbi.”

„Najlepszy jest ten, co zdrowe zdanie sam posiada.”

„Bezmyślny dzień to stracony dzień.”

„Na błędach człowiek uczy się rozumu.”

„Na początku był chaos.”

“Let it please thee to keep in order a moderate-sized farm, that so thy garners may be full of fruits in their season.”

“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.”

“Observe due measure, for right timing is in all things the most important factor.”

“It is not possible to deceive or go beyond the will of Zeus.”

“He harms himself who does harm to another, and the evil plan is most harmful to the planner.”

“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.”

“Sometimes a day is a step mother, sometimes a mother.”

“Work is no disgrace: it is idleness which is a disgrace.”

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

“[Thus] the people pay for the mad folly of their princes who, evilly minded, pervert judgement and give sentence crookedly.”

“Gossip is mischievous, light and easy to raise, but grievous to bear and hard to get rid of. No gossip ever dies away entirely, if many people voice it: it too is a kind of divinity.”

“Bring home a wife to your house when you are of the right age, while you are not far short of thirty years nor much above; this is the right age for marriage.”

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

“For then it is a bad thing to be righteous — if indeed the unrighteous shall have the greater right.”

“Wealth should not be seized: god-given wealth is much better.”

“I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words… When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly disrespectful and impatient of restraint.”

“But they will give straight judgements to strangers and to the men of the land, and go not aside from what is just, their city flourishes, and the people prosper in it.”

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

“Love, who is most beautiful among the immortal gods, the melter of limbs, overwhelms in their hearts the intelligence and wise counsel of all gods and all men.”

“Let the price fixed with a friend be sufficient, and even dealing with a brother call in witnesses, but laughingly.”

“Whoever avoids marriage and the sorrows that women cause, and will not wed, reaches deadly old age without anyone to tend his years.”

“For trust and mistrust, alike ruin men.”

“The gods have placed sweat as the price of all things.”

“Fools, they do not even know how much more is the half than the whole.”

“Admire a small ship, but put your freight in a large one; for the greater the lading, the greater will be your piled gain, if only the winds will keep back their harmful gales.”

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

“Do not seek evil gains; evil gains are the equivalent of disaster.”

“We know how to speak many falsehoods which resemble real things, but we know, when we will, how to speak true things.”

“On the tongue of such an one they shed a honeyed dew, and from his lips drop gentle words.”