Menander Quotes

Menander offers playful yet thoughtful musings on discretion, truth and marriage.

36 quotes

1. We live, not as we wish to, but as we can.

2. Riches cover a multitude of woes.

3. Whom the gods love dies young.

4. At times discretion should be thrown aside, and with the foolish we should play the fool.

5. The truth sometimes not sought for comes forth to the light.

6. Deus ex machina.

7. I call a fig a fig, a spade a spade.

8. Marriage, if one will face the truth, is an evil, but a necessary evil.

9. It is not white hair that engenders wisdom.

10. Health and intellect are the two blessings of life.

11. The man who runs may fight again.

12. Conscience is a God to all mortals.

13. Hope saves a person in the midst of misfortunes.

14. Intelligence, if it is clever in the direction of the better, is responsible for the greatest benefits of all.

15. If you want to live your whole life free from pain you must become either a god or else a corpse. Consider other men's troubles and that will comfort you.

16. Fortune is no real thing. But men who cannot bear what comes to them In Nature's way, give their own characters The name of Fortune.

17. Old men are children for the second time.

18. It is not hoary hairs that bring wisdom; some have an old head on young shoulders.

19. All men have one refuge, a good friend, with whom you can weep and know that he does not smile.

20. 'Know thyself' is a good saying, but not in all situations. In many it is better to say 'know others.'

21. Do not fight against Providence; nor bring more heavy weather to the storm. Face what is already there.

22. How sweet is life, can we but choose with whom to live it: to live for oneself is no life.

23. Of all wild beasts on earth or in sea, the greatest is a woman.

24. There is no such cozy combination as man and wife.

25. In many things it is not well to say, "Know thyself"; it is better to say, "Know others."

26. Rest assured, for every piece of business the most businesslike thing is to choose the right moment.

27. No man alive can say, This shall not happen to me.

28. Chance is a kind of god, for it preserves many things which we do not observe.

29. By associating with wise people you will become wise yourself.

30. Even God lends a hand to honest boldness.

31. A thing hard to track is Fortune.

32. There is but one genuine love-potion - consideration.

33. Never ask the Gods for life set free from grief, but ask for courage that endureth long.

34. Why should he who is scared be careful?

35. Let bravery be thy choice, but not bravado.

36. The chief beginning of evil is goodness in excess.